Hero Grove (World War I Memorial)

After the conclusion of World War I, the city of Augusta looked for a way to honor the local war dead. In October 1919 resident landscape designer, Julia Lester Dillon, suggested a living memorial of trees. She proposed planting a tree with a bronze plaque for each of the 78 soldiers killed in the Great War. During the planning stages two possible locations were proposed for the memorial—one on a grassy median on Broad Street and another site on Central Avenue. The location on Broad Street was initially chosen for the memorial and trees were planted in March 1920 between Second and Fifth Streets. Unfortunately, the first planting of trees died and had to be replanted. When the second batch of trees also died, Dillon then suggested the memorial be moved to the second location on Central Avenue. The new site and plaque were dedicated on July 1, 1921.

About Julia Lester Dillon: After a childhood in Augusta, Julia Lester Dillon initially trained as a teacher. After illness in her early 20s left her deaf and she lost her husband in the early years of their marriage, she decided to retrain in landscape gardening. She loved to garden and wanted a career where her deafness would not limit her. She returned to Augusta in the 1910s as a landscape architect and was one of the first southern landscape architects, meaning one knowledgeable about the native plants and landscapes of the south. She completed many private and public commissions in the Augusta area and after WWI designed the Hero Grove memorial. She was the co-author of the city’s slogan as the “Garden City of the South.” In 1920 she moved to Sumter, SC to develop Memorial Park and became the City Landscape Architect there, the only woman to hold such a position. She was then hired as Sumter’s Superintendent of Parks and Trees until 1948. In addition, she wrote The Blossom Circle of the Year in Southern Gardens (1922) and Landscape Design: Twenty Lessons (1931) and was the Southern Garden Editor for Home and Garden magazine 1911-1916.

Augusta Area World War I Dead:

CLAUDE A. BARKER

LOUIS C. BATTEY, CAPT, US ARMY

WILLIAM P. BATTLE, JR, SGT

BARNEY BIVENS, CPL

DAVIS ADAM BOTTOM, LT

SAMUEL C. BOUZARDT

JACK CARR BYRD

WILLIE CALDWELL

THOMAS EDWARD COCHRELL

WILLIAM J. COONEY

JAMES W. CROWE

BEN CUMMING

THOMAS CUMMING, LT

FOSTER DAVENPORT

JOHN ALLEN DAVIS

ALLEN SETH EDWARDS, S2C, USN

CLARENCE EPPS

LAWTON B. EVANS, JR, LT

HENRY GARRETT

ERNEST N. GAY

DAN GIBSON

EULIE T. GOOLSBY

DAVID HARRIS GREENE, SA, USN

OLIVER R. HARDEMAN, CPL

WILLIE HARRIS

FOREST H. HARRISON, PVT

JAMES B. HESTER

WILLIE JAMES HICKSON, USN

JOHN W. HOGAN, SGT

WILLIAM M. HORNE, F3C, USN

WILLIE E. JONES, SGT

SHEPARD JORDAN, CPL

JOSH KEENER

WILLIAM EDWARD KENT, S2C, USN

ANDREW KEY

ANTHONY KNUCK, PVT

ARCHIE MCCORCKLE

FRANK B. MCCOY, COL

IRA MILLARD MOORE

DANIEL DAVID MORRIS

T. A. MURPHEY, SGT

FRAMPTON PAGE

JOHN NEELY PAGE

NORMAN PFLAGER, PVT

WILLIE PHILLIPS

GEORGE T. PITTMAN, PVT

BURR WISE POWELL

WILLIE READY

JOHN HENRY REESE

TOM REESE

ASHLEY F. RUSHING

OWEN ALDERMAN SIMS, USN

SAMUEL SMITH

THURMAN LEE SWANCY, CPL

DAVID THOMAS, PVT

M. C. TROWBRIDGE

FRED E. TURNER

LEE WALTON VERDERY, LT

JOHN A. WALKER, SGT

MACK WALTHOUR

CARL WILLIAMS

MARVIN G. WRIGHT

ALVIN YOUNGBLOOD, PVT

“Julia Lester Dillon.” Georgia Women of Achievement. Accessed April 12, 2021. https://www.georgiawomen.org/julia-lester-dillon

“The Way We Were: Augusta’s Hero Grove honors World War I dead.” The Augusta Chronicle. November 4, 2018. Accessed April 12, 2021. https://www.augustachronicle.com/news/20181104/way-we-were-augustas-hero-grove-honors-world-war-i-dead.