Blue Star Memorial By-way A tribute to the Armed
Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee
Marker Inscription
Blue Star Memorial By-way A tribute to the Armed Forces of America District II, Tennessee Fed. of Garden Clubs National Garden Clubs, Inc.
Erected by National Garden Clubs, Inc.
The Story
Founded in 1945, the Blue Star Memorial program honors America's armed forces, its emblem taken from the blue-star flags families displayed for loved ones in uniform. Sponsored by District II of the Tennessee Federation of Garden Clubs, this marker brings that national tribute to Nashville. It is one of thousands placed along American byways by the National Garden Clubs.
Why it matters
Blue Star markers give communities across the country a shared vocabulary of remembrance, honoring military service on the roadsides Americans travel every day.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
O'Bannon House
Russellville, KY
Lieutenant Presley N. O'Bannon of the U.S. Marines is remembered as the first American to raise the flag on foreign soil, on April 17, 1805, when his attack helped overcome Barbary Coast forces holding American seamen for ransom. He settled in Logan County in 1807 and served in the state legislature and senate before his death in 1850.
Blue Star Memorial Highway
Smith County, TN
Blue Star Memorial Highways began in 1945 when garden clubs planted living tributes to honor those who served in World War II, taking their name from the blue-star service flags hung in family windows. The idea spread through garden-club federations into a coast-to-coast system of markers. This Tennessee marker, placed by a district of the state garden clubs with the transportation department, extends that tradition into the hills of Middle Tennessee.
Blue Star Memorial Highway – Hart County
Hart County, KY
Sponsored by the Dogwood District of Garden Clubs with the Garden Club of Kentucky and the state highway department, this Blue Star Memorial Highway marker honors the armed forces that have defended the nation. The Blue Star program began in the mid-1940s as a garden-club tribute to World War II servicemembers and grew to embrace all who have served. Its emblem recalls the service flags displayed in family windows during wartime.
American Red Cross, McCracken County Chapter
Paducah, KY
Chartered in 1917, the McCracken County chapter of the American Red Cross was born of World War I, raising $42,000 in its first war drive. But its defining hour came in the great Ohio Valley Flood of 1937, when it mounted an enormous evacuation and relief effort—spending over $1.1 million in a single disaster. Through two world wars, droughts, tornadoes, and fires, it served the county for more than fifty years.