Veterans Memorial Plaza

Originally known as "Obelisk Square," this park was completed in 1930 between the American Legion Mall and the Indiana World War Memorial, with the Obelisk fountain as its main feature. It was originally designed as a venue for military parades and related civic events, and pairs of captured German artillery pieces once flanked each corner of the large open plaza. Resembling the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., the centrally placed Obelisk stands within the Indiana War Memorial Plaza as a symbol of hope and inspiration to the nation. The spire is one hundred feet tall, composed entirely of black Berwick granite, and set within a two-tiered fountain accented with water-jets and colored lights. Unlike other monuments and memorials of the district, it is not dedicated to veterans of a specific conflict, but stands in testimony to the fidelity, sacrifice, and valor of countless citizens who served, and sometimes died, while the world was at peace. It honors Hoosiers who manned outposts of freedom, stood firm on land, sea, and air during the Cold War, restored democracy in Haiti, Grenada, and Panama, and kept the peace in the Sinai, Bosnia, and Kosovo, as well as family members of Hoosier veterans who waited, watched, and worried while loved ones went in harm's way far from home and family.

Indianapolis city (balance), Indiana · United States