BLUE STAR MEMORIAL

HIGHWAY MARKER

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At the close of World War II, the National Council of Garden Clubs, like other public-spirited groups, was seeking a suitable means of honoring servicemen and women.  It was agreed, that as Garden Clubs, it would be better to help beautify and preserve the country the men had fought for than to build stone monuments.

The program began with the planting of 8,000 Dogwood trees by the New Jersey Council of Garden Clubs in 1944 as a living memorial to Veterans of World War II.  In 1945, the National Garden Clubs revised this plan to place a large metal Blue Star Memorial Highway Marker at appropriate locations along highway systems that cover thousands of miles across the Continental United States, Alaska and Hawaii.  The name commemorates the blue star which is in the center of the red and white service flags which were first used during World War I.  Usually, they were placed in the windows or on the front of homes to denote a member of the family was serving abroad in the nation’s Armed Forces. US Highway 1 was designated as Florida’s first Blue Star Memorial Highway by the state legislature in 1947. Florida’s first Blue Star Marker was dedicated on May 30, 1949 in Key West’s Bay View Park on Highway 1.  Nine years later, the Florida legislature expanded the list of highways in Florida designated as Blue Star Memorials. 

The Blue Star Memorial Highway Marker in Boynton Beach was placed here on Federal Highway by the Boynton Beach Garden Club on April 25, 1968.  The Garden Club continues to watch over and honor this designated patriotic space. We work with the City of Boynton Beach to maintain the area’s ground cover, pavers and vegetation. We had the marker itself refurbished as recently as 2018. Annually, on Veterans’ Day, we gather at the Blue Star Marker in Boynton Beach to participate in a short service honoring our veterans.