WORLD WAR I MEMORIAL
The Portion Of This Lobby Space That Aligns With Its North-Facing Entrance Doors Is The Original Location Of The Rotunda Of Ohio’s World War I Memorial. This Space Served As The Entrance To The Building’s World War Memorial Wing.
The rotunda in all of its beauty is preserved within three dimensional space for you to view. Using your iOS device click this link and it will allow you to view it in virtual space. if your phone is held vertically in your hand you can turn it horizontal and refresh the page to see it more completely. you can look up, down, all around, as if you are standing right there with it in all of its former glory.
The Portion Of This Lobby Space That Aligns With Its North-Facing Entrance Doors Is The Original Location Of The Rotunda Of Ohio’s World War I Memorial. This Space Served As The Entrance To The Building’s World War Memorial Wing.
In 1923, new plans for an addition to the Archeological and Historical Museum emerged. The expansion created a new north wing for what is now Sullivant Hall. This new space enabled the establishment of a space that commemorated World War I soldiers and others involved with the service to the U.S. cause from the state of Ohio. The resulting space commemorated the triumphs and losses associated with this series of momentous events. The special room, with its formal geometry, grand finishes and figurative wall panels, both honored and remembered the experiences of those who served so honorably.
THE ROTUNDA CAST WORKS | BRUCE WILDER SAVILLE
The 36 foot rotunda was shaped as an octagon with four large bas-relief bronze tablets as its primary displays. The elaborate radial floor pattern and the paneled walls and columns that lined the room were clad in marble and the shallow domed ceiling featured molded plaster and a leaded glass center rosette. The large cast bronze tablets were ten feel wide and eight and one half feet tall. Each depicted a different scene of the soldier’s experience: “The Draft,” “The Training,” “The Advance,” and “The Voyage.” Local artist and OSU professor and volunteer ambulance driver in the war Bruce Wilder Saville designed the cast works. According to the artist, the first two panels provide insight into the soldier’s experiences of enlistment and initial service by focusing on the appearance of a future soldier to a physical examination and drilling with bayonets in an army camp. The third panel illustrates the transport of soldiers overseas by depicting a gun crew on the deck of a torpedo boat with a convoy of additional ships in the background The fourth panel, portrays our troops’ victories amid the gruesome aspects of combat encountered by American soldiers who served in “a ruined and stricken land scarred by trenches, blasted by shell fire, pestilent with gas and the reek of carnage.”
It took three years after initial plans were drawn for the memorial space and its art work to be completed. The grand space and its bronze panels were unveiled along with a large bronze exterior statue of “The Victorious Soldier” (also designed and cast Saville) in a grand dedication event held at 1:30 pm on April 6, 1926. That date was chosen, at least in part, because it commemorated the ninth anniversary of America’s involvement in the war. With two thousand people in attendance, Herbert B. Briggs, the State Architect of Ohio, presided over the ceremony. With the Star Spangled Banner playing in the background, each of the four bas-relief panels was slowly unveiled by a woman with war service experiences.
The Draft
Edith M. Tallant drew back the curtain that hid “The Draft” from view. Ms. Tallant served as a YWCA volunteer worker at Camp Genicart in Lorraine, France during the war.
The Training
Former Army nurse Mary Louise Long revealed “The Training” after serving at Base Hospital 167 in Mesves, France.
The Voyage
Margaret L. Knight, the former head dietitian at Base Hospital 12 in Camiers, France, unveiled “The Voyage.”
The Advance
Edith W. Hall, an Army nurse at Base Hospital 167 in Mesves, France during the war, exposed “The Advance” to the crowd.
The new museum spaces included an area for records and a collection of other war-related artifacts could also be seen in fifty-foot square rooms adjacent to the rotunda, eventually outgrowing the space allotted.
As the first memorial to the war in Ohio, the rotunda commemorated the service of more than 200,000 Ohio residents—more than 6,000 of whom did not return. Six thousand five hundred ninety-four OSU students, former students and alumni served and the university’s enrollment dropped 17% between 1916-1918 due to the war.
