
Maine Memorial - Pittsburgh, PA
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N 40° 27.189 W 080° 00.662
17T E 583858 N 4478523
One of three monuments in the country that contain relics of the battleship Maine.
Waymark Code: WM769B
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 09/08/2009
Views: 10
Dedicated on Sept. 16, 1914, in honor of all the soldiers, sailors and Marines of Allegheny County who served in the Spanish-American War, the monument has at its center the torpedo tube and armored porthole from the battleship. The only local passenger to go down with the Maine was Lt. Friend William Jenkins, the ship's flag officer.
Jenkins was revered as a hero by Allegheny City Mayor Charles Geyer, who had already begun to raise funds for a monument to be erected in his honor while the lieutenant lay in state on the second floor of the old Allegheny post office. The locals, it seems, weren't that interested and failed to pony up the cash necessary.
It wasn't until 1914, when Allegheny County, the city of Pittsburgh and the Veterans of the Spanish-American War ultimately shared the $7,000 expenditure needed for the creation of this memorial that the lieutenant got his due, with his name being inscribed along with his fellow sailors who went down with the USS Maine on three tablets designed by New York sculptor Charles Keck that surround it.
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