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Highlights of Downtown Cleveland Tour
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The Fountain of Eternal Life is a memorial erected in Mall A of Cleveland, Ohio. The fountain is dedicated to the soldiers from greater Cleveland who served in 20th Century wars as well as the Iraqi and Afghanistan Wars. The memorial is also known as the War Memorial Fountain and the Peace Arising from the Flames of War. The Fountain was created in 1988 and has stood across from a Statue of Abraham Lincoln for decades.

Back view of memorial

Back view of memorial

View of the fountain from side and front

View of the fountain from side and front

The Fountain of Eternal Life was originally created in 1964 with the goal of being dedicated to soldiers who had died or were declared missing in the Spanish/American War, WWI, WWII, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The Fountain was created by Marshall Fredrick, who constructed a man reaching on the top that, "...expresses the main theme of the Memorial Fountain, namely, the spirit of mankind rising out of the encircling flames of war, pestilence, and the destructive elements of life, reaching and ascending to a new understanding of life. Man rising above death, reaching upward to his God and toward Peace."

With its dedication in 1964, the Eternal Life Fountain contained only the 4,155 names of Clevelanders who had served during World War II and the Korean War. In 2004, the fountain was rededicated, and 1,361 names were added to include veterans of the Spanish/American War and World War I and the first six casualties of the Iraqi and Afghanistan War from the Cleveland Area. Further names are expected to be added in the future by the Greater Cleveland Veteran's Memorial Inc. The plaza in which the Fountain is located has also changed its name from Mall A to the Veterans Memorial Plaza.  


The Greater Cleveland Veteran's Memorial Inc. "About Us." Last modified in 2014. accessed February 8, 2015. http://www.clevelandvetsmemorial.org/history.asp.