Helping Restore Living Memorials to WW1 Heroes
If you’ve ever taken a stroll on North Park or South Park boulevards, you’ve likely
noticed the bronze plaques at the base of some of the trees lining stretches of those
roadways. These trees and their accompanying plaques are part of Liberty Row, a
memorial planted in 1919 to commemorate soldiers who died in World War I. Liberty
Row originally included more than 800 trees, extending nine miles from Cleveland’s
lakefront through Rockefeller Park and up into the Heights.
The plaques, which each bear the name of a single soldier, certainly caught Quinn
McDermott’s attention.
“I saw the plaques and wondered what they were,” recalls McDermott, a Shaker
resident and 2020 graduate of Shaker Heights High School. “I’ve always been interested
in history, so I wanted to know more.”
McDermott started researching and connected with Al Oberst, a Cleveland
Heights resident and veteran, who has been helping to care for Liberty Row for decades,
including coordinating the placing of American flags next to the plaques for Memorial
Day in Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights.
McDermott was especially interested to find out more about the soldiers. “Al
had a map of all the names of the soldiers who have plaques in Shaker Heights,” says
McDermott. “I was able to learn more about where they came from. While many died in
battle, some died when they got back to the States,” explains Oberst. “But their deaths
are attributed to the war.”
Unfortunately, many of the Liberty Row plaques are in poor condition and most
are missing altogether, especially in the Cleveland portion. “Of the original 830
plaques, only about 300 remain,” says Oberst.
McDermott wanted to help and decided to focus on the memorial for his Eagle Scout
Service Project. The Eagle Project, as it’s often referred to, is a culminating experience for
Eagle Scouts, explains Shaker resident David Urban, who leads Shaker’s Troop 662.
”It can be done anytime, but is typically done toward the end of their career with
the Eagle Scouts,” Urban says. “There is an entire curriculum, which includes planning
the project, getting approvals, and assembling a team,” he adds. “The real goal of the
project is to show leadership.”
McDermott decided to create 19 new plaques for trees whose plaques were in
particularly poor condition. Working on a historic monument turned out to be a
major undertaking. Not only did McDermott have to design new plaques and get them
approved by the City and manufactured, he had to work closely with City planners
and the City’s forester throughout the project. An anonymous donor helped fund the
manufacturing of the new plaques, which are also bronze.
6 SUMMER 2021 | WWW.SHAKER.LIFE
A team of McDermott’s fellow scouts
helped install the new plaques last fall;
the plaques are affixed directly to the trees
using a secure mounting system similar to
what you might find in an arboretum. “It’s
a mounting system that doesn’t hurt the
tree,” McDermott explains.
The original plaques were kept in
place, but McDermott’s new plaques help
passersby once again to see the name of
the soldier memorialized by the tree.
“I wanted to honor the fallen
soldiers who gave their lives in World
War I,” says McDermott, who is now
studying history in college.
From left: Quinn McDermott, Al Oberst, David Urban
A new plaque, which takes inspiration
from the original (see below). Over time,
the new plaques will also develop
a patina.
An original bronze plaque.
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