Veterans Park

As part of its downtown revitalization, the City of Kannapolis had a vision to completely renovate a green space at the corner of Laureate Way and Main Street. The City commissioned Benesch to create a vision for the redevelopment of this civic landmark. The park offers a scenic and peaceful environment to play, relax, and remember those who served their country in times of war.

Design work involved restoring a very popular park pavilion, historic sundial, and streetscapes for three sides of the park. New elements designed for the park included a new memorial plaza, ceremonial flag lawn, water feature, new gateways into and out of the park, significant landscaping, seat walls, and irrigation and lighting systems.

The memorial plaza contains a decorative granite, brick, architectural concrete monument, and bronze wreath. The monument is surrounded by granite paving inlaid with seals of five active-duty branches of United States Services. The centerpiece of the park is a decorative fountain to honor the war dead. The circular granite fountain is illuminated by an eternal flame resting on top of a granite pedestal rising from a tranquil pool. Both the memorial plaza and decorative plaza are integrated together with brick sidewalks with the names of the war living. Benesch provided master planning, detailed design, bidding, and construction administration.