U.S. Military Service Member Memorial Brick Project
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For the past several years, the Burroughs Neighborhood Organization (BNO) has been working on beautifying The Triangle, the triangular strip of City property at South Avenue and Airport Highway. Last year, 2019, the BNO applied for and was awarded a $13,000.00 grant to do just that. In addition, the Lucas County Land Bank, a couple years after investing their efforts in the Burroughs Neighborhood, has also pledged an additional $10,000.00 toward the completion of this goal. There are many, many people interested in tipping our neighborhood in the right direction, and we will not give up in that effort. The current project includes: a Burroughs Neighborhood stone sign, flagpoles and flags complete with lighting, landscape work, hedge work, stone work, Military Service Branch stone emblems, and most intricately, an area of Military Memorial Engraved Bricks – where you come in.
If you would like to honor a family member or friend who served in the United States Military, or make your own service known, we welcome you to reserve a brick at the memorial. We have achieved a way to make this FREE for veterans, who should not have to pay a single cent more, as they've already given so much.
For FREE, you can honor a U.S. Military Service Member in a lasting way. No catch. SPACE IS LIMITED.
Each brick is 4”x8” and includes 1-3 lines of engraving with approximately 13 characters each line including spaces. LETTERS ONLY. For example: “ROBERT JAMES” is only 11 letters, but the space in between counts as a character, so “ROBERT JAMES” becomes 12 characters.
We are currently accepting reservations of NAME, SERVICE BRANCH, & RANK, and we are hoping to get a good sample size to make the bricks look uniform. We encourage you, if you’re having trouble fitting a name, to remember that with 3 lines there might be some way to fit it all, even if it is not in a clear pattern. With a variety of reservations, there may be many variations, and they are all for the same cause.
In the interest of fairness, reservations will be on a first-come-first-engraved basis. This project may continue into an overflow in the future if possible and if we receive enough names. We are hoping to prioritize and receive names of veterans who are in some way connected to the Burroughs Neighborhood, then connected to Toledo, then connected to Lucas County, as this is a neighborhood project funded first from a grant to the neighborhood, from the city, and a county entity.
For safety and security, we ask that you contact bno.group@yahoo.com to discuss reserving a brick. If we do not respond right away, please be patient, as we will get back to you.
We thank you for your interest, and offer thanks to the Service Member you wish to honor and memorialize.
Brick engravings appear glowing white, and turn stone black with a bit of rain.
Bricks may be set in with concrete after enough have been engraved to remove uneven spacing. The more names, the faster it goes!
U.S. Coast Guard, Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Navy emblems sit between the flags and engraved bricks.
The project is still ongoing, with plenty of room for honoring more service members. New pavers may be added over time to fill the rock area. Flags are interchangeable, usually including U.S., POWMIA, and U.S. Armed Forces Flags, but also featuring KIA and other flags. Four shrubs are permanent in the corners of the bricks, and weeds are maintained by volunteers and landscapers over time. Over the past few years, with COVID-19 slowing so much to a halt, the area has been slowly transformed into a decent place to honor our country's veterans, from what used to be a field of yard-high weeds, mulch, and bare land. The garden at the tip has persisted from the beginning, and has become a part of this even bigger memorial in the heart of the Burroughs Neighborhood.
The memorial is publicly accessible, (though it will take time to be made handicap accessible through donations and volunteer work, still ongoing).
Neighborhood volunteers maintain the flags, garden, and rock area, with support from a generous landscaping crew, the Lucas County Land Bank, and City of Toledo mowers.
