That change came last year after the veterans’ memorial, which had been located on an island in the intersection of Central and Main Street for decades, was damaged several times by automobiles.
The new site will help consolidate a variety of memorials and is part of the route for the city’s annual Independence Day parade, Kirkpatrick said.
It will also be a safer, more convenient spot for the veterans’ monument and demonstrates a long-term commitment to honoring those who have served their country, city officials have said.
“Fairborn’s a military town. We’re one of the communities that borders Wright-Patt Air Force Base,” Kirkpatrick said. “A lot of our residents are either veterans or have been employed at Wright-Patt.
“And it’s an opportunity to honor those people who have been a Wright-Patt community who are members of Fairborn. It’s a great way to recognize their contributions to the base and to the defense of our country,” he added.
Work on the park is being done in phases. It will also include memorials for former Fairborn Parks & Recreation Director Alicia Eckhart and former Greene County Sheriff Gene Fischer, a walking path and space for future memorials, according to the city.
The park may also one day be a site to honor the Legends of Fairborn, a local historical society program that remembers notable residents with plaques now at the city’s senior center, Kirkpatrick said.
Meanwhile, the city has been seeking bids for the park’s construction. The bids are due May 8, according to Fairborn records.
While the city does not have a cost estimate at this time, Fairborn two years ago approved $500,000 for the park’s construction to be funded by its American Rescue Plan Act money, which totaled about $6.8 million.
Nearly $200,000 more has been raised through the purchase of bricks honoring fallen military veterans and donations, Kirkpatrick said.
The Fairborn Veterans Memorial Project has more than 130 individuals, couples, groups and businesses listed as sponsors.
More than 80 donors are listed on the project’s website as those obtaining bricks.
The fund-raising helped pay for the new vets’ memorial, a five-sided obelisk honoring the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marines and Navy, Kirkpatrick said.
Despite the damage caused to the former memorial, the black granite blocks featuring the logos of the branches of each service were salvaged and will be part of the new memorial’s design, he said.
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