The Indiana World War Memorial: Indianapolis, Indiana

This is a modern photograph — taken by Carol M. Highsmith on September 18, 2016 — of a building raised to remember a century ago: the Indiana World War Memorial in Indianapolis, built to honor the veterans of World War I, its name carved in stone above the columns.

The memorial stands in Marion County as the state’s formal act of remembrance for that war’s service. Towns and states across the Midwest built places like this so the names and the service would not be forgotten.

With Veterans Day two days after this post, it is a fitting pause in a week of old photographs: proof that some of the Midwest’s history is still standing in stone, in the middle of the state capital, doing the job it was built to do.

Source: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division (Carol M. Highsmith Archive), LC-DIG-highsm-41312

More vintage Midwest photos and stories every day on the Forgotten Midwest Facebook page.