Pat Hennessey Memorial Gardens - Hennessey, OK
Posted by: 
hamquilter
N 36° 06.775 W 097° 54.138
14S E 598793 N 3997030
This is a unique little park honoring Pat Hennessey.
Waymark Code: WMYAWZ
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 05/22/2018
Views: 9
Located in a residential area in northwest Hennessey, this is a memorial garden established by U.S. Marshall Malaley, which was dedicated on Memorial Day 1941. He wanted to honor Pat Hennessey, an Irish freighter who traveled the Chisholm Trail. On July 4, 1874, he and his men were driving a wagon train when they were attacked. There are two stories circulating as to his attackers: Indians, and as Malaley reports, white horse thieves dressed as Indians.
The gardens have an overhead entrance with the name Pat Hennessey Memorial gardens. The rock wall surrounding the area is gone, with just the entrance pillars remaining. Malaley brought in a huge rock boulder on which two historical plaques are mounted. Hennessey's body was supposedly moved several times over the years, but in this park, behind wrought iron fencing is the hand made headstone for Pat Hennessey, which is considered to be near where his body is buried.
The large memorial stone stands nearby with two bronze plaques which read:
This marks the place
on Chisholm Trail where,
during the Cheyenne and
Arapaho Indian Wars,
Pat Hennessey
a government freighter,
was massacred, July 4, 1874,
by white outlaws, masked
as Indians
A grave lies nearby.
The town of Hennessey
was named in his honor. Presented to Town of Hennessey
by
Annette B. Ehler
May 30, 1941 
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The most noticeable and unusual sight in the park is a 24 ft. high rock lighthouse constructed by Malaley. It's significance is not known except that it honors Pat Hennessey. In past years, there were colored lights in the lighthouse windows, and chimes that would peal out each evening at 7:00.
