After President Kennedy was gunned down in Dallas in November 1963, the local Knights of Columbus deeded land to the OK Historical Society for a handsome polished red granite cenotaph and landscaped memorial plaza at this spot where Kennedy once stood on a happier occasion in 1961.
The cenotaph is accessed by a sidewalk with a small plaque reading:
"KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS GIFT
This monument commemorating visit of President John F. Kennedy to Big Cedar was erected under auspices of Knights of Columbus who deeded shaft and land to Oklahoma Historical Society October 30, 1966.
Oklahoma Historical Society 1966"
The cenotaph is made of five pieces of polished red granite, a tall rectangular piece in the center that is framed on wither side by a small rectangle and square that are stacked together to form a L-shape. The long sides of each L rest against the straight sides of the central panel. The memorial reads as follows:
"[L panel]
"Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country."
[C panel]
IN MEMORIAM
[Bronze portrait of JFK]
JOHN
FITGERALD
KENNEDY
1917-1963
[KofC logo]
Dedication of Highway 259
October 29, 1961
[R panel]
Presented as a memorial
to an industrious and dedicated
American
by the Knights of Columbus
and the People of the
State of Oklahoma."
From the Roadside America website: (
visit link)
"JFK Dedicates Last Stretch of US 259
Field review by the editors.
Big Cedar, Oklahoma
President Kennedy's untimely death prompted the creation of a lot of JFK-was-here tributes. This one may be the loneliest of all: a bronze face of the martyred President at the top of a tall granite slab, marking his appearance in Ouachita National Forest in October 1961 to open the final stretch of US Highway 259.
The monument appears to have once had its own parking area, but it's now used as a supply dump for concrete highway barriers and piles of wintertime road grit. Don't worry, there are still plenty of places to park; you will probably be the only visitor.
FK Dedicates Last Stretch of US 259
US Hwy 259 at OK 63
Address: Big Cedar, OK
Directions: In Ouachita National Forest, 24 miles south of Heavener or 57 miles north of Broken Bow. At the intersection of US Hwy 259 and Hwy 63, on the southwest corner.
Admission: Free