1. The Kentucky National Guard Memorial
Imagining a Sacred Space
Honing A Design To Create A Memorial Worthy
Of The Names And Deeds Of Those It Will Honor

2. The Original Concept
• In 2004 Daniel
Boone was chosen
as a prominent
feature of the
Kentucky National
Guard Memorial
from the outset as
reflected in this
original concept.
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3. • Kentucky Army National Guard Facilities
Maintenance individuals volunteered their
personal time and expertise to advance the
design concept.
• For the first time the overall circular shape of the
memorial space was added to the design. It faded
for a time but eventually became one of the
enduring features.
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4. • Muldoon Memorials joined the effort creating a
rendering and for the first time the shape of
Kentucky was added to the design to remain
throughout the many long discussions.
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5. • The water feature and
bricks remained a central
feature along with
Boone but in a slightly
different form.
• The concept also
envisioned stone
monoliths around the
plaza of the memorial
with information and
images about the
various periods of
history and the fallen.
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6. • Muldoon imagined the
Kentucky stone with stars
where units were located
across the Commonwealth
as a backdrop to Boone.
• It soon became apparent
that a star for every location
in Kentucky that had ever
had a National Guard unit in
its long history would leave
nearly no space black granite
to contrast the stars.
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7. • As the efforts progressed Bender Associates
Architects joined the fray to refine the concept
and work toward construction.
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8. • Their refinement changed the stone monoliths to more inviting
cantilevered signage to tell both the history of the Kentucky Guard
and to hold the names and images of the fallen.
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9. • Historical images of the Guard in action were added to the
stone Kentucky and The water feature was revised changed to
remove the water pool for safety of children who might visit
the site and also for ease of maintenance in future years.
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10. • While the commitment to
Boone never waivered in
the design there was much
discussion on how to best
feature him in the space.
• Here is one concept of a
base stone for him by
Muldoon Memorials where
the Boone base would
become a tablet for the
names of the fallen.
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11. • Eventually Bender Associates were able to weave the many
threads into a final concept.
• The board was able to whittle away to the heart of the
memorial the placement of the names of the fallen.
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12. MEANWHILE WORK PROGRESSED
ON DANIEL BOONE
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13. Original maquette submitted by sculptor Wyatt Gragg. A
maquette is a small model of an intended sculpture – a first draft
of the sculptor’s vision
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14. The maquette was cast in bronze for
promotional purposes.
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15. • The next step in the process
was the creation of a one-
third scale model of the
final Boone statue. The
scale model gives the artist
his first real opportunity to
give detail and exacting
attention to what will
eventually become a larger
than life bronze.
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16. • Here sculptor Wyatt
Gragg puts the
finishing touches on
the scale clay of
Daniel Boone. The
type of shoes and
hat Daniel Boone
would have worn
became much
discussed points in
the development of
the scale model.
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18. Assembled scale bronze showing details of Boone’s clothing and equipment
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19. • Design by committee is never an easy thing and
Muldoon Memorials and Bender Associates will attest
to
• But as the final few design tweaks were incorporated a
final vision was becoming reality.
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20. • At last the end of the design process was in view. The
lights from the plaza were recessed. The plaza itself
was transformed from concrete to granite to
compliment the Kentucky shape.
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21. • The long standing quotation on the front of the
memorial was moved to the back of the Kentucky
shape to make way for the names of the fallen.
• The artwork by John Hoza was removed from the
back of the Kentucky shape with a promise to
incorporate the Kentuckians in action somewhere
else in the memorial design
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22. Nearly there
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23. Finally the Design Was Complete
• The sacred space was imagined. Long
discussions passionately arguing details from
light bulbs to flag poles … eventually ended.
• Everyone finally pushed back from the table
content that all had done their best to honor
their memories.
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24. A Sacred Space
A memorial worthy of the names and
deeds of those it will honor.

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