KSU seeks landmark status for May 4 site ksu Trustees want U.S. designation in 2020, 50th anniversary of campus shootings from A1
A memorial for those killed on May 4, 1970 at Kent State University's Prentice Hall parking lot, where the shootings occurred. The lot, and the rest of the 17.24-acre shooting site has been named a National Historic Landmark.
(Marvin Fong, The Plain Dealer)
KENT, Ohio - The May 4 site at Kent State University was named a National Historic Landmark Wednesday by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell.
This year will be the 47th anniversary of that day in 1970 when the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd of demonstrators, killing four and wounding nine.
The site of the shootings was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010, recognized as a "property associated with events that make a significant contribution to the broad patterns of U.S. history and as a property achieving exceptional significance within the last 50 years," the university said.
More than 90,000 properties are on the national register. About 2,500 are considered landmarks.
"As we approach the 50th anniversary of May 4, 1970, this recognition compels us to fully claim our status as a global resource and convener of the world's most critical conversations on peace and conflict resolution," Kent State President Beverly Warren said in a statement.
Jewell on Wednesday announced 24 new landmarks, including Greenhills Historic District in southwest Ohio.
"These 24 new designations depict different threads of the American story that have been told through activism, architecture, music, and religious observance," the secretary said in a release. "Their designation ensures future generations have the ability to learn from the past as we preserve and protect the historic value of these properties and the more than 2,500 other landmarks nationwide."
Why was landmark status sought?
While the status cannot be conferred until a site is at least 50 years old, trustees in 2015 requested that its nomination be considered so that the designation can occur on the 50th anniversary in 2020.
It can take up to five years for an application to be approved, the National Park Service said. Nominations are reviewed multiple times and the Landmarks Committee and the National Park System Advisory Board meet only twice a year to review nominations. The May 4 site was considered at the committee's fall meeting in October.
See the nomination below or click here if on a mobile device.
What is the significance of the status?
National Historic Landmarks, part of the National Park Service, are "nationally significant historic places designated by the Secretary of the Interior because they possess exceptional value or quality in illustrating or interpreting the heritage of the United States," according to its website.
The properties "tell stories that are of importance to the history of the entire nation, not just local communities or states,"the website states. "These properties possess a high, not simply good, level of historic integrity."
Jewell announced 10 new landmarks on Nov. 2, including the Zoar Historic District.
Ohio now has 75 national historic landmarks, including the USS Cod in Cleveland, Oberlin College and Stan Hywet Hall in Akron.
What is the site?
The site covers 17.4 acres of the campus, comprising the Commons, Blanket Hill, the Prentice Hall parking lot and the Practice Field.
The site is an area within which the soldiers, student protestors and an active audience of observers and/or sympathizers moved across a central portion of the campus beginning around 11 a.m. and ending more than two hours later, the university said.
Seven students were shot in and around the blacktop of the parking lot, an eighth student was shot on the far side of Midway Drive to the east, and a ninth student was shot farther south and immediately adjacent to what is now the gym annex.
Bollards and in-ground name plaques at the parking lot now commemorate the locations where the four students were fatally shot. The B'nai B'rith Hillel Marker is located at the western end of the lot.