MOUNT VERNON — Mount Vernon officials and residents have periodically mentioned relocating the Veterans Walk of Honor, but the idea started to solidify two years ago.
The Veterans Walk of Honor is currently on Public Square. Administration officials propose moving it to American Heritage Park. The selected area is north of the CA&C depot parking lot and east of what’s known as the Dan Emmett House.
Visitors can access the Veterans Walk via three 6-foot-wide paths. The memorial bricks will be located along the entrances, tilted at a slight angle.
The new Veterans Walk will incorporate five, 18-inch square pavers from the current site, representing the branches of the U.S. Armed Forces. A sixth will be added to represent the United States Space Force, created in 2019.
“We do have room at the current location for several more bricks, but I think this is going to provide about twice as much space at the end of the day for our veterans,” Platt said.
In the center where the three paths converge, the city initially planned to plant a tree. However, an unnamed owner would like to donate a Silent Battle statue. (See PDF below.)
“The designer is looking for permanent home. The goal of the designer is to have two in each state,” City Engineer Brian Ball said. “This one has been on tour; the donor will be the person to bring it home to us.”
The owner would also provide a base for the statue.
Three benches made from a tree the city removed from Riverside Park will surround the statue.
Ball will prepare legislation to accept the statue for the next meeting.
Model railroad museum adds to city’s heritage
Safety-Service Director Tanner Salyers said the white house adjacent to the CA&C depot could become home to a model-railroad museum.
The house was once thought to be the home of Mount Vernon native Daniel Decatur Emmett. However, research after a 2014 fire revealed Emmett had no connection to the house.
“It has been brought up publicly that it would be nice if we had a museum that honored the contributions of the rail lines locally,” he said. “We’ve talked with our Kokosing Model Rail Club about some of their work being permanently installed in the interior of that house.”
The historical society would transfer the Dan Emmett artifacts to the Knox County Historical Society Museum.
Doing so, Salyers said, would make the park truly a heritage park.
“They can visit the Liberty Plaza, the depot visitor center, Veterans Walk, the Bell Circle, and a railroad museum,” he said.
“And then we do have space in the future for our first responders memorial back there as well. So it’s really a park for history and reflection and not just something that’s stuck out there.
A place for reflection
“This is a really cool and unique opportunity to be a regional park that you want to visit,” he added.
Councilman Mel Severns likes the idea of moving the Veterans Walk to American Heritage Park.
“We’ve talked a little bit about the number of activities we have on the square and the number of people that are on the square stepping on the bricks and quite frankly, moving it out here, I think is awesome,” he said.
Salyers said that many times, people do realize they are stepping on the memorial bricks on the square.
“It provides more of an area for people to utilize the public square for what it is, a public square,” he said. “And [American Heritage Park] becomes a welcome area for everybody.”
Ball added that the park “becomes a welcome area, a place for reflection, and a place to sit and observe downtown.”
