In June 1934, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed into law an Act that provided for "the creation of the Pioneer National Monument in the State of Kentucky." The Monument was intended to unite Boonesborough, Boone's Station, Bryan's Station and Blue Licks Battlefield - four Kentucky sites that played significant roles in the victory of the American colonists over the British and their Native American allies in the American Revolution.
From the Act:
Whereas four of these shrines in Kentucky represent in continuity a counterpart of the American Revolution east of the Alleghenies, to wit: (1) Boonesborough, where the first fort "in the West" was erected, the first highway to "the West, the Wilderness Road", terminated, the first colonization was effected, and the first legislature met; (2) Boones Station, whence Daniel Boone, as lieutenant colonel of the Fayette County Militia, rushed troops to the assistance of various other besieged stations as well as joined in the retaliatory campaigns under General George Rogers Clark into the Old Northwest, and where he buried his son and nephew, who fell at the Battle of Blue Licks; (3) Bryans Station, where the women of the fort sallied forth under the rifles of some six hundred Indians to procure water for the besieged pioneers on August 18, 1782, contributing in large measure to the successful defense of the fort; and (4) Blue Licks Battlefield, scene of the accredited "Last Battle of the Revolution", August 19, 1782, which aroused all of the western colonists to unitedly launch a devastating campaign into the Ohio country, under the leadership of General George Rogers Clark, that effectually stopped further invasion of Kentucky by the British and Indians and was the forerunner of the final conquest of the entire Northwest Territory for the United States.The Pioneer National Monument was intended to be analogous to the Colonial National Monument in Virginia that incorporates the Battlefields of Yorktown, Jamestown Island and portions of Colonial-era Williamsburg. The Pioneer National Monument Association (PNMA) was created by the Daniel Boone Bicentennial Commission (the commemorative coin's sponsor) at a meeting on September 21, 1934 - it was to serve as a financial support arm for the Monument and "further projects, plans, and celebrations of the Boone Bicentennial Commission."
The PNMA was tasked with securing the needed land of each of the four targeted sites (listed above), and then to turn over the properties to the US Secretary of the Interior for the creation of the Pioneer National Monument - it was to be administered by the National Park Service (NPS).
The PNMA received more than $30,000 generated from coin sales by the Commission; it was not enough to complete the targeted land acquisitions, but it provided a start.
The Association's first efforts were directed toward acquiring property at Boonseborough, but proved unsuccessful due to the high price being asked by the property's owner. From available records, it appears that coin funds were later used to purchase (in 1943) 253 acres adjacent to Blue Licks Battlefield State Park; the price paid was $27,000. The PNMA had hoped to turn over the newly-acquired property and the existing Park site to the Department of the Interior so that it all could be added to the National Park System, but without the other sites listed in the authorizing legislation included, the transfer was refused by the NPS.
Though the Association set about the tasks assigned to it and worked diligently for years to make the land acquisition a reality, it was not able to fully achieve its objectives and the Pioneer National Monument was not to be. (The targeted land was either not available for sale or priced at levels beyond reach.) Funds that could - at least partially - be traced to coin sales were used by the State of Kentucky to purchase the historical 75-acre site of Fort Boonesborough in 1963 (the PNMA had transferred all of its assets to the State) - it became Fort Boonesborough State Park. In 1965, the PNMA was replaced by the Fort Boonesborough State Park Association (FBSPA).
So, even though Frank C. Dunn, the Executive Secretary of the Bicentennial Commission and the man who oversaw the coin distribution for the group, mishandled matters with collectors and gave the program a black-eye, an ultimate silver lining can be found for the coin sales through the Kentucky State Parks at Blue Licks Battlefield and Fort Boonesborough.
1934 Daniel Boone Birth Bicentennial Half Dollar
For other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including other stories about the Daniel Boone half dollars, see:
Commems Collection.
Posted 06/30/2023 09:53 am
