Built one brick at a time, the Rose Park Veterans Memorial along the Kalamazoo River is a local memorial dedicated to Veterans. The memorial features five, seven-foot granite monuments in the shape of a star with etchings of U.S. military servicemen and women from wars of the past and is dedicated to those who will fight in the future.

With help from the Rotary Club of Kalamazoo-Sunrise and Wightman, the memorial, originally dedicated on Veterans Day 2001 and rededicated in 2011 with new lighting, was refurbished in 2018. Utilizing Wightman’s GIS technology and Reality Capture teams, guests are now able to more easily locate a commemorative brick from the more than 5,000 on-site.

“We are grateful to the partners in this project for making the vision for improvement a reality,” said Joanna Johnson, member and past president of the Rotary Club of Kalamazoo-Sunrise.

Although the Kalamazoo County Veterans Day event was canceled this year, the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety is still honoring the day from afar. Today, and every day, guests can remember our Veterans by stopping by the memorial, checking it out digitally, brick by brick, here, or honoring a veteran they love by purchasing a memorial brick.