Explore the Memorial Plans
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The memorial plans include twelve granite columns with 420 names engraved per side (each column is two sided) of Winneshiek County Veterans who have served in all branches of the service.
If you believe you know of a Veteran that should be added to the monument, please contact us. The Decorah Genealogy Association has already found thousands of names of Winneshiek County Veterans including:
If you know a Veteran that has lived in Winneshiek county, please click below to learn more about adding a name to the monuments. There will be fourteen memorial benches placed around the outer perimeter dedicated to those who went above & beyond the call of duty.
In the center of the twelve columns, there will be a granite column with the engraving. 
This memorial is not to honor war, but to show the price of peace lest future generations forget the sacrifices made to maintain freedom.
This column will also list the branches of the military.
On the back, there will be an engraving that includes the preamble to the Constitution of the United States, the Armed Forces Oath of Enlistment, and the words "HONOR - COURAGE - COMMITMENT".
The memorial is located at the Mary Christopher Park - intersection of E Water St and First St in Decorah, Iowa. 
Ray Koshatka, Glenn Larson, Ray Seiler, and Doug Smith Standing next to one of our name stones (just to give you some perspective)
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images courtesy of lewiston monument company |
The story behind
mary christopher park
Some Decorah natives may not know the man behind many of our precious area parks. Fred Biermann graduated from Decorah High School in 1901 and later Columbia University in New York City, Valder Business College of Decorah, and studied law at Harvard in 1907 and 1908. In 1911, he purchased the Decorah Journal and became Decorah's postmaster in 1913 until his service was interrupted when he volunteered for the U.S. Army during World War I from April 1917 to June 1919. Later, he represented Iowa's 4th congressional district in Congress from 1933-1939 and was appointed United States Marshal for Northern Iowa from 1940-1953. Biermann served on the Decorah Park Commission from 1922-1968. He later established many of the area parks, including Dunning's Spring Park, Day Spring, the west six acres of Palisades Park, Cold Water Spring, and Malanaphy Spring. Biermann lost his mother at the age of five and his aunt, Mary Christopher, raised Biermann. In his will, Biermann set aside land to be established as a park in memory of his aunt, Mary Christopher.
