Landmark for Peace Memorial

Former Indiana Secretary of State, Larry Conrad, had the idea that a monument could commemorate both Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy in the park where Kennedy’s calming remarks were made on the night of King’s assassination. Indiana Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh funded a juried competition for a monument design in 1994 with resources from the newly-formed Pacers Foundation.

Indianapolis writer, Greg R. Perry submitted a design concept that was chosen from a pool of 50 submissions. The monument, dedicated in 1995, is constructed from two massive curves of Cor-Ten steel cut with the outlines of Kennedy and King, cast by Indianapolis sculptor Daniel Edwards. From each of these rounded steel curves of steel leap two half figures, reaching their hands out to one another over a walkway. “The monument is a meeting of opposing artistic sensibilities not normally found together in public monuments: abstract meets figurative,” writes NUVO art critic Dan Grossman. “It’s not just a piece of sculpture that happens to be outside in a public space,” says project consultant Steve Mannheimer. “It’s truly a civic sculpture.”