Northwest School Soldiers and Sailors Memorial
The Northwest School Soldiers and Sailors Memorial was originally dedicated to the young men who served in World War I. The Memorial stands approximately eight feet high and is made of rockville granite. It houses four bronze plates giving the names of the young men in service, and a plate bearing the University of Minnesota and Northwest School of Agriculture seals. Later additions to the Memorial were made to include the Indo-China Conflict, Korean Conflict, those who served in World War II, and a plaque dedicated to the Northwest School of Agriculture which ended its era in 1968.
Unveiling
The unveiling of the Northwest School Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Memorial was accompanied by an entire day of festivities on October 5, 1920. Thousands attended the festivities, which centered on dedication exercises for the new dining hall, the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Memorial, and the opening of the paved roadway from the campus to Crookston, which was the first paved road in the Red River Valley. There was also a three and a half mile long parade that featured floats and a large camouflage tank of the American Legion with a squad of uniformed service members. The University of Minnesota President Lotus Delta Coffman (1920 - 1938) also spoke at the event. The day concluded with a football game against the second string team of the University of North Dakota. Graduates of the Northwest School say they would have rather “missed ten years of life than have absented themselves from the campus on such a glorious day as the fifth of October proved to be.”
The Memorial is dedicated to the eight boys who did not return home from the Great War, and the 152 other boys who served and returned home safely. The Memorial is 10 feet, 6 inches in length, four feet, seven inches in width, and seven feet, ten inches in height. It is made of rockville granite, has four bronze plates giving the names of all the boys in service, and a plate bearing the University of Minnesota and Northwest School seals.
The Crookston Association was one of the main organizers of the Memorial and unveiling festivities. They promised the event to be “one of the most important events ever held in the Valley.” A memorial fund was set up to ensure adequate funding for this project. The Class of 1920 led with 100% of its members being enrolled as subscribers to the fund. However, the funding was still not enough so Conrad Selvig, the superintendent of the Northwest School of Agriculture, sanctioned a publication of poems with the idea of selling a sufficient number of copies to raise the balance for the memorial fund. About 800 people subscribed to the fund. The Memorial will live on as “a thing of beauty and joy forever.”
“The memorial is the product of loving hands,” President Coffman addressed. “It is built from the contributions of students, former students, and faculty. In the years to come, it will bear silent witness to the patriotism of this school, to the fidelity and trust that the school has in the traditions and principles of true Americanism. It will be an inspiration as long as the school lives to thousands of students yet to come,” he added.
Additions have been made to the memorial. In 1971, the UMC Vets Club added a memorial plaque for veterans who served in the Indo-China Conflict. The NWSA Alumni Association added a dedication plaque to those who served in the Korean Conflict. Another plaque was added to give tribute to those who served or lost their lives in World War II. Finally, there is a large plaque dedicated to the Northwest School of Agriculture.
It reads as follows:
Other quotes from The Northwest Monthly
“A monument in memory of those who gave their lives to preserve such a government, symbolizing for all time the loyal devotion of your people to education and the cause of free government.”
“As the memorial stands clear and white in the morning sun, or softly subdued in the light of the early evening it brings home to all the unselfish devotion of our brave boys. It will ever inspire the living to higher and nobler ambitions and a fuller reverence.”