Blue Star Memorial By-way A tribute to the Armed
Village of Bronxville, Westchester County, New York
Marker Inscription
Blue Star Memorial By-way A tribute to the Armed Forces of America Boulder Lodge Garden Club and The Bronxville Womens Club National Garden Clubs, Inc.
Erected by National Garden Clubs, Inc.
The Story
The Blue Star Memorial tradition began in 1945 to honor those serving in the armed forces, taking its name from the blue-star service flags displayed by families during the World Wars. This tribute in Bronxville, New York was placed by the Boulder Lodge Garden Club and the Bronxville Women's Club under National Garden Clubs. It brings a suburban Westchester village into a nationwide network of remembrance.
Why it matters
It demonstrates how women's clubs and garden groups led the grassroots effort to memorialize military service across the country.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Old Greenwich War Memorial
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By 1955, when this memorial was dedicated, the three Connecticut shoreline communities of Old Greenwich, Riverside, and North Mianus had sent their sons and daughters into the century's great conflicts—from the trenches of the First World War through the global campaigns of the Second and, most recently, the fighting in Korea. Small towns across America marked these sacrifices with exactly this kind of communal tribute, gathering neighbors to honor those who had served on land, at sea, and in the newly decisive skies of modern warfare. The memorial's language—"servicemen and women"—quietly acknowledges that this generation's service crossed old lines, including the many women who answered the call in uniform and support roles.
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Site of Fort Tryon
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During the American Revolution, the rocky heights of northern Manhattan were fortified to help hold the Hudson against the British advance. Fort Tryon stood as an advanced outwork guarding the approaches to the larger Fort Washington, and when Hessian regiments stormed the hilltop, its outnumbered defenders put up a determined fight before the position was overwhelmed. Among them was Margaret Corbin, who took her fallen husband's place at the cannon and kept firing until she herself was gravely wounded.
Margaret Cochran Corbin | 1751–1800
New York, NY
During the British and Hessian assault on Fort Washington in November 1776, Margaret Cochran Corbin stepped into the gun crew when her husband John was killed at his cannon, keeping the piece firing until she too was gravely wounded. She is remembered as the first woman to take a soldier's place in combat during the Revolutionary War and later became the first woman to receive a military pension from the Continental Congress. This marker near the old fort's ground honors her stand.