Permanent Memorial

Since forming the Memorial Association our overarching goal has been to build a memorial—in honor of those fallen heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice—to help keep their communities safe. What Abraham Lincoln called “the last full measure of devotion.”

From the outset we’ve envisioned this memorial as a unique work of art that will ensure those fallen heroes are never forgotten. But we also want it to serve as an immortal tribute to the officers who risk their lives for the people of this county every day.

In recent times we’ve made great progress. After years of searching for the right location, the local Masons stepped up and generously donated us an ideal home for the memorial. This 1-acre site is located next to the Dayton Masonic Center overlooking the Great Miami River and the Dayton skyline.

After that we hosted a nationwide Juried Arts Competition that brought us 58 proposals from professional artists in 28 states. From those we chose a California sculptor’s awe inspiring design—that features an embedded plaza inscribed with the fallen officers’ names, agencies, and end of watch dates—as well as five 30 foot tall steel spires symbolizing birds’ wings that form a star pattern. And a thin blue line connects the spires with the fallen heroes.

Most recently we engaged a renowned local architectural firm that’s currently transforming the conceptual design drawings into detailed engineering schematics. That once completed will pave the way for us to break ground and begin construction.

Lately we’ve ramped up our fundraising efforts, and are nearly halfway to having our projected budget fully funded. But we still need additional donations to help cover the costs of the memorial’s materials, construction and perpetual upkeep.