War Memorial Rememberance
The plaques that were placed in the War Memorial Headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma can be accessed by clicking here. Please note that the United States Jaycees Foundation has each state plaque and is acception donations to secure them. To make a donation click here.
Now, how did the War Memorial Headquarters come to being:
The national headquarters was shifted from St. Louis to Chicago in 1938.
The prestigious LaSalle Hotel in Chicago, burned on July 6, 1946. The headquarters of the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce was on the 20th floor. Fortunatley, enough could be saved and repaired that in a short time operations resumed.
By that time the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce had already decided it was time to find a new location. They considered returning to Chicago and studied moves to Indianapolis, IN, Denver,CO, Houston, TX and Orlando, FL. On September 8, 1945 Jaycee communities were asked to submit a bid if they desired to have the national organzation locate its headquarters in their city. It was expected that bidding cities would offer some tangible incentive to the USJCC it was hoped that Jaycees across the country would swell the War Memorial Fund to $100,000.
But in 1944, a Tulsa Jaycee (Dick Gode) began campaigning for the “Oil Capital of the World” to become the USJCC home city and site for any headquarters building which might be constructed. Due to its advanced thinking, Tulsa was best prepared to present its bid for the headquarters at the 1946 convention in Milwaukee and the Tulsa Jaycees pledged $100,000 to help finance a building. Though no decision was made at the convention, the matter being deferred to the September board meeting, Tulsa was to be approved as the headquarters site in September 1946. At he February 1947 Board meeting, the move to Tulsa was ratified again with the provision that this would take place within 60 days of such time as Tulsa could prove they had the $100,000. On June 6, 1947 the executive committee gave the go-ahead on the move. Previously, the organization wouldn’t move until the cash was in the bank. Tulsa demonstarted at that meeting, it had $60,000 in cash and ten Tulsans had approached a banks and signed a debtor’s note for $40,000. There’s also a yarn about Oklahoma City losing out because of a poker game involving the Enid, OK delegation at the Oklahoma state convention – but that’s another story. The move was to be made as soon as possible but did not come about until July of 1947.
On July 3-7, 1947 the move to Tulsa took place with the Akdar Shrine Temple Building as its temporary home. The War Memorial Headquarters lot was purchased in the fall of 1947 for about $19,000 ($268,900 in 2025 dollars) and dedication ceremonies were on December 7, 1947 the 6th anniversary of the attack of Pearl Harbor.
Funds for the War Memorial continued to come in slowly during 1947-48 and it was not until 1949 that the big push was made to secure funds through the “Buck or Better” drive. Final quotas were established on based on the membership figures as of March 1948. It was expected that each every state organization would contribute a $100 Series F Savings bond (costing $79 including expenses.) Each local chapter was asked to do the same. Individual members were asked to contribute “A Buck or Better.”
During 1948-49 an architectural contest was held to pick a design for the new building. Through the efforts of Vice President Joseph Saunders, the Portland Cement Company, Servel and Commpany and Progressive Archtecture Magazine were secured as sponsors. There were 284 submissions and the winning team of J. Edward Luders, Hideo Sasaki and James Edsall were awarded the bid. As winners the three men were each awarded $10,000 (about $132,6000 in 2025 dollars.)
Since $260,000 was available for construction (originally estimated at $100,000) bids for the building was opened with a deadline of March 20, 1950 for applications. The lowest bid was $384,000 far exceeding the $240,000 cost estimate byt the architects. Plans changed and new bids were sought. An acceptable bid of $240,127 was received from the H.R. Loman Company, Tulsa. The bid was accepted and gave resident architect Donald Honn the authority to expend and additional $10,000 for necessary changes while the building was being built.
Ground breaking for the new headquarters was held on July 10, 1950. Cornerstone cermonies were then conducted on December 7, 1950 the 6th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Due to the Korean War any hopes for a 190 day completion was ruined, due to building restrictions and shortages of some materials. By July 1, 1951 the structure was ready for occupancy. It was equiped with Herman Miller modernistic furniture valued at $15,000. The location at 4 W 21st Street was a 54,000 square feet – 3 story building on 2.6 acres that also leased to outside enterprises. The War Memorial Headquarters dedication ceremonies were held on August 4, 1951. The final cost was about $254,000 ($3,594,783 in 2025 dollars.) It was dedicated to the memory of Jaycees who lost their lives in World Wars I and II. In 1966, long needed conference room space was addedwith the construction of a 200-seat room in a second floor area that had been a patio. In 1973 a new addition was dedicated to those who lost their lives in more recent conflicts and to continued world peace.
In 2001, the building was sold and in 2003 demolished. In 2004, the Junior Chamber of Commerce downsized and dedicated a two-story, 12,000-square-foot office building which was built on the northwest corner of 75th Street and S. Lewis to house the Jaycee National Service Center and the Junior Chamber Historical Museum. In September of 2011, the location of the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce headquarters was moved to St Louis and is housed in the JCI Headquarters building which had moved from Coral Gables, FL in 2002. So, the location of the Junior Chamber of Commerce headquarters location has come full circle!
FUNDRAISING
To facilitate the raising of money, states were encouraged to compete with one another to see which could raise the most money by February 1, 1949 or reach their goal first. At the national meeting held in August of 1948, R. E Zipperer, who at the time was president of the South Carolina Jaycees, rose to the floor to challenge any state with a comparable quota to a contest to raise money. Nevada completed its quota at the Philidelphia Convention held June 3-5, 1948. Iowa was the second state and South Carolina the third.
Eventually all 50 state organizations and the District of Columbia completed their pledge. Each state was provided the opportunity to present a state plaque to commemorate the completion of thier goal. The plaques were hung outside the Executive Offices in the new War Memorial Headquarters in the order of the completion of the pledge. Unfortunately, with the move in 2004 the records of when states completed their donations do no longer seem available. To view all of the plaques, click here.
If anyone has photos of the plaques displayed in the War Memorial Headquarters, let the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce Foundation know. We would like to provide the credit and put the plaques in order of goals reached.