Monument of States

The Monument of States stands in Kissimmee's Lakefront Park as one of Florida's more peculiar roadside attractions — a 50-foot tower of concrete and embedded stones collected from across the United States following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Rocks, fossils, petrified wood, and minerals from all 48 states (as they were in 1943) are pressed into the surface, alongside contributions from Cuba and several US territories.

Up close, the monument is genuinely worth examining: you can spot lumps of quartz, coral, lava rock, and what the labels claim are dinosaur-era fossils. It is not architecturally impressive, but as a piece of wartime folk art and national sentiment, it has real interest. The park setting on the lake makes it a pleasant stop in its own right.

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After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Kissimmee mayor Charles Downing Stoner put out a call to every US state, territory, and even some foreign countries asking them to send rocks, fossils, and minerals. The resulting tower — made from stones contributed by all 48 then-states plus the District of Columbia, Cuba, and several US territories — was completed in 1943 as a rallying symbol of national unity.

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