USS Arizona Memorials
USS Arizona Battleship Plaza
When Was it Made? The University of Arizona Student Union was built in 1951 but renovations were made incorporating memorials, yielding the University of Arizona Student Union Memorial Center in 1999 and finishing in 2003.
Who Funded It? the Bank of Tucson
Who and What is memorialized? The USS Arizona Battleship and students who were involved in the war
Design Details: In the SUMC Canyon there is a multi-story cylindrical drum, which represents the U.S.S. Arizona’s main gun turret. A water feature animates this grand space with the sound of falling water. Designed to be ecologically sensitive to its desert environment, the fountain’s pools will be subtly reminiscent of the waters covering the U.S.S. Arizona. Battleship anchor chains and rusting steel plates that abstract the pieces of the ship’s hull are incorporated in the design.
USS Arizona Bell
When Was it Made? The bell arrived on campus on October 27 1946
Why Was it Made? Wilbur Bowers (UofA alumni) discovered the bell in June 1944 in line to be melted. Bowers set on his journey to preserve the legacy of the USS Arizona, which began by attempting to move the bell from Bremerton Navy Yard to The University of Arizona campus.
Who Funded It? UA president Atkins and Arizona Governor Sidney P. Osborn
Who and What is Memorialized? 1,177 men killed in the bombing of pearl harbor on board the USS Arizona
Fun Fact: The bell is rung 7 times on the third wednesday of every month at 12:07pm in honor of those who died on December 7th 1941
USS Arizona Mall Memorial
When Was it Made? Construction began in the fall of 2016 and was completed just in time for the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The memorial was dedicated December 4, 2016.
Why Was it Made? The USS Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona pays tribute to those who died on the Arizona during or as a result of the attack on Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1941.
Who funded it? The project was the idea and design of David Carter, whose father spent most of World War II in the Pacific theater. He felt that outlining the ship on the University of Arizona mall would give a sense of the huge scale of the ship and the scale of the loss of human life. The project was funded
entirely from contributions.
Who and What is Memorialized? 1,177 sailors and marines in their teens and early 20s. The vast majority of the crew we wish to remember was between 17 and 22 years old on December 7th.
Design Details: The unique open-space design of the USS Arizona Mall Memorial is a full-scale outline of the deck of the iconic ship on the university mall consisting of 1,177 brass medallions spaced one foot apart, flush with the lawns and walkways and directly beneath the USS Arizona ship’s bell hanging in the Student Union tower.
War Memorials
Hillel Butterfly Memorial
When Was it Made? The Butterfly Commemorative Art Installation was revealed to the public in 2015.
Why Was it Made? The ceramic butterflies are intended to honor the memory of the 1.5 million children killed in the Holocaust and Tucson’s Holocaust survivors.
Who Funded It? The Gould Family and University of Arizona Hillel Foundation
Who and What is Memorialized? The butterflies represent each of the 1.5 million children who perished during the Holocaust.
Fun Fact: The Butterfly Project (Zikaron V’Tikvah) was originally founded by Holocaust educator Jan Landau and artist Cheryl Rattner Price in San Diego. Since then the project has spread outside of the US, with locations in Canada, Mexico, Israel, Australia, France, Cuba, Poland, Morocco, and Tanzania.
Old Main Fountain
When Was it Made? 1919 (dedicated on Jan 13 1920)
Why Was it Made? To commemorate 13 UofA students who died in WW1, including Alexander Berger’s nephew
Who Funded It? Alexander Berger- Long time merchant and Tucson benefactor. The fountain cost $5,500.
Who is Memorialized? Thirteen UofA graduate students who died in World War I, including Alexander Berger’s nephew, Alex Berger, along with William Orville Bloys, Hugh Daye Campbell, Corlande Brown Curry, Karl Thomas Hurst, James Preston Jones, Ritchie William Jones, Louis Edward Kengla, Leonard Low, Morgan Bland McDermott, Cornelis
Molenbeek, Leslie Abram Waterbury, and Homer Donald Whipp.
Fun Fact: 13 spouts on the fountain, one for each grad student
University History
"Bear Down" painted on the Bear Down Gym
When Was it Made? Shortly after Salmon’s death on Oct 18th, 1926
Why Was it Made? The coach at the time, J.F. “Pop” McKale, visited Salmon in the hospital before his death, and later told the squad that the young athlete’s last message to his teammates was: “Tell them... tell the team to bear down.” McKale invoked the phrase to the team before two important games that year, and UA won both. When word spread, the UA student body drew to the phrase swiftly, and among other uses, painted the slogan on the roof of the University gymnasium shortly thereafter, known then, as Bear Down Gym.
Who Funded It? The University of Arizona
Who is Memorialized? John Byrd “Button” Salmon, who was one of the most beloved students on campus (all the girls wanted to date him and all the guys wanted to be him). John “Button” Salmon was student body president, a member of the "A" Club, the Bobcats and the Chain Gang, both honorary organizations, and the Sigma Nu social fraternity. He had earned two letters in football and three in baseball during his three years in school.
Fun Fact: Former band director, Jack K. Lee, was flying into Tucson for his interview to be the band director and saw “Bear Down” painted on top of the gym. He then asked the man next to him, who happened to be an alumni, why we say Bear Down and the man told him the whole story of John Button Salmon. Jack Lee was so inspired by the story he started to write the song, “Bear Down, Arizona” on a barf bag, which is still the school’s fight song to this day.
Women's Plaza
When Was it Made? The Plaza was dedicated in 2005, and an online kiosk containing a database of honorees’ life stories was dedicated in 2009.
Why Was it Made? The Women’s Plaza of Honor publicly and permanently celebrates women who have made significant contributions to the history of Arizona or have enriched the lives of others. The Plaza offers alumni, employees and students of the University of Arizona, members of the community, and people everywhere the opportunity to commemorate these outstanding women.
Who Funded It? The Women’s Plaza of Honor is sponsored by the Women’s Studies Advisory Council (WOSAC) of the University of Arizona’s Department of Women’s Studies. The leadership team consists of University and community women who have set the goal of raising $3 million to fund an endowment for Women’s Studies and to cover construction costs for the Plaza.
What is Memorialized? The Women’s Plaza of Honor is a warm, inviting and meditative gathering place located on the University of Arizona campus in the area west of Centennial Hall. Its unique design of plants, lighting and water intermingles with archways, benches and sculptural elements to represent the stages of women’s lives. Each will honor specific women whose pictures and stories can be electronically accessed on the Women’s Plaza of Honor web page and at a kiosk in the Plaza.
Joseph Wood Krutch Memorial Cactus Garden
When Was it Made? When the University of Arizona was established as a Land Grant Institute in 1891, Dr. James Toumey, a botanist for the Agricultural Experiment Station on campus, recognized the value of the aesthetically unique vegetation that thrives here in the Sonoran Desert and started a cactus display garden that we now know as the Joseph Wood Krutch Garden.
Why Was it Made? In the 120 years since the genesis of the University and its cactus garden, the University’s practices have advanced to reflect current and evolving understandings of and attitudes toward landscaping and the natural environment.
What is Memorialized? The Joseph Wood Krutch cactus garden still stands as a symbol of the University’s responsibility as a Land Grant Institute to encourage land stewardship through research, education, and outreach, and of our continuing connection with our history, heritage, and responsibility as co-habitants of the Sonoran Desert.
Cedar Ramada Memorial
When Was it Made? March, 2000
Why Was it Made? “So the memory of this cedar tree may live on, providing enjoyment for students, staff, and visitors.”
Who Funded It? University of Arizona, constructed by UA Facilities Management
What is Memorialized? A cedar tree planted in 1904 upon completion of the Douglas building.
Fun fact: The tree stood at 90 feet tall and now makes up the table base and ramada planks and rafters.