Kent State May 4 Site Receives National Landmark Status

By Eric Weaver

Kent State’s May 4 site has been awarded status as a National Historic Landmark.

The designation was official December 23, 2016, but it was announced November 2, 2016 by then-Sec. of the Interior Sally Jewell. National Historic Landmark status is conferred by the National Park Service and includes over 2,500 locations nationwide.

The site had previously received an Ohio Historical Marker in 2006 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2010.

The May 4 Landmark status covers 17.4 acres including the Commons, Prentice Hall, and Blanket Hill. It also includes Taylor Hall, home of the Kent State May 4 Visitors Center.

Currently under renovations, the Center was opened in 2012 as a museum and educational center, dedicated to the events around May 4, 1970 at Kent State.

Laura Davis, co-founder and first director of the Center, was among those who worked on the applications for the sites addition to both the National Register and Landmark lists.

Davis highlights the significance of the May 4 site as “the only place with National Landmark status that represents the national student protest movement of the ‘60s and ‘70s.”

One purpose of the Landmark status is so “citizens can understand history in the place that it happened,” Davis says.

In addition to the student protest context, Davis says the events in May 1970 at Kent State share an historical thread with other “use[s] of excessive force by government authorities against protesting citizens,” such as the 1965 March to Selma.

In its designation as a Landmark, as well as its place on the National Register, the May 4 site is one of few places to have received these honors fewer than 50 years after the events themselves occurred.

Dr. Mindy Farmer, current director of the May 4 Center, says the Landmark status will be officially commemorated once the renovations on Taylor Hall are completed.

The renovations will introduce additional space for the Center, including offices, classrooms for tours and presentations, as well as more exhibition space.

Farmer says the mission of the Center is to make sure that people understand the historical context of the May 4 events, especially students and others in the Kent State community.

“We want to make sure you have answers to the questions you will be asked about this,” Farmer said.

Like Davis, Farmer believes that the events at Kent State are more than a history lesson.

“It’s a good case study for so many important issues,” Farmer said.

There will be a panel discussion about the Landmark status during the 2017 May 4 events at Kent State.

For more information on the history of May 4 visit http://www.kent.edu/may-4-1970.