How's It Coming? - the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial

uploaded to flicker by cliff1066™

As we pause to remember Martin Luther King, Jr. today, we should take a look at how his Memorial on the Mall is coming. Whether you live here or plan to visit in the next year or so, you have a unique opportunity to witness the construction of a national memorial.

The Memorial has gone through ups and downs since it was authorized by Congress and signed into law by President Clinton in 1996. The plaque shown was laid in December of 2000. While they missed the target of 2003 for a groundbreaking, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Foundation did manage to raise enough funds for groundbreaking to start late last year. Site clearance and preparation started December 28th.

I took a walk down there last week and workers were putting the finishing touches on the fence around the site. Supposedly, portions of the work will remain visible during construction, but the wall was fairly complete along the Tidal Basin and towards the FDR Memorial. We'll see, because it would be a shame not to be able to observe the construction as it progress. As I find the best vantage points, I'll let folks know.

Like virtually every other Memorial and Monument constructed on the Mall, the design and construction has been the focus of controversy's, both great and small. Hopefully, that's all behind us and in Fall of 2011 we'll get to see a fitting remembrance of our country's greatest civil rights leader.

The Memorial will occupy a space across the Tidal Basin from the Jefferson Memorial, between the World War II Memorial and the FDR Memorial. Its main focus will be a 28 foot tall statue of Dr. King, which is already under way in China under the supervision of sculptor LeiYixen. The 4 acre site will also feature 24 niches, some dedicated to other fallen civil rights leaders such as Medgar Evars , others left open to symbolize the unfinished nature of the civil rights movement. Like the Jefferson Memorial across the way, theMLK Memorial will rest on unstable fill land, which will require over 300 pilings to be drilled for supports.

We're looking forward to filling you in as this project continues. This is the first major memorial to be placed on the Mall in over a decade and possibly the last to be placed on such prime real estate. But I'm not taking any bets on that point.