HistoricSiteMarkers
Postwar & Contemporary

Blue Star Memorial Highway A tribute to the Armed

Clovis, Curry County, New Mexico

Marker Inscription

Blue Star Memorial Highway A tribute to the Armed Forces that have defended the United States of America sponsored by District III New Mexico Garden Clubs Inc. in cooperation with Fraternal Order of Eagles #3245 Clovis New Mexico and New Mexico State Highway Department

Erected by National Garden Clubs, Inc.

The Story

The Blue Star Memorial Highway program began in 1945 and spread across the nation, honoring the armed forces with markers named for the blue-star service flags of wartime homes. This Clovis, New Mexico marker was sponsored by District III of the New Mexico Garden Clubs with the local Fraternal Order of Eagles and the state highway department. It ties the eastern New Mexico plains into a national memorial network.

Why it matters

It demonstrates how garden clubs and civic groups together made honoring military service a permanent feature of the American roadside.

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Themes & tags

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