1919 War Hero Memorial Pinery

		In 1919 the Bloomsburg State Normal School decided to remember its former students who died serving their country in the First World War. They felt so strongly about this they created a living memorial to these individuals. It consisted of white pine trees, each one representing one of the students. On Memorial Day, May 30, 1919, the Dedication Ceremony was held. Three years later a boulder was placed at the site with a marble tablet showing each tree and the student it represented.
The Memorial Pinery in 2002.

On Armistice Day in 1924 a third ceremony was held to dedicate the bronze tablet that is still on the boulder. In 1930 Bloomsburg's first Dean of Instruction, William B. Sutliff, wrote a poem to honor the memorial. Even now, more than 80 years later and with all that has happened to it, the Pinery remembers those who sacrificed their lives for their country.

The Bloomsburg University History Department is continuing to raise funds to complete the restoration of the Pinery as closely as possible to the way it looked in 1924, and to build a reserve to maintain the Memorial in the future. This is an effort by the students of the present honoring those who have gone before. Checks should be made out to: BU Foundation - War Memorial Pinery, and sent to the BU Foundation at the Development Center, Bloomsburg University, 400 East Second Street, Bloomsburg, PA 17815. For any questions on the fundraising efforts please contact Dr. Nancy Gentile Ford at ford@bloomu.edu.