Posted on 04/02/2005 4:20:33 PM PST by FoxInSocks
QUANTICO, Va. (AP) - A 400-ton crawler crane stretching more than 20 stories high hoisted a 210-foot-tall spire Wednesday, putting into place the premier architectural feature of the National Museum of the Marine Corps.
Symbolic of the historic flag-raising at Iwo Jima on Feb. 23, 1945, the spire now stands at a 60-degree angle and points toward Interstate 95.
Officials with the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, the group raising the $50 million to build the museum just outside Quantico Marine Corps Base's main gate, see the spire becoming a significant feature in the region's landscape.
It towers so high - the spire is as tall as the U.S. Capitol - that officials had to notify the Federal Aviation Administration that it was going up.
"This will become a landmark for traffic reporters," said retired Marine Col. Raymond Hord, who heads up the foundation's marketing efforts.
The National Museum of the Marine Corps, designed by Fentress Bradburn Architects, is slated for a grand opening in November 2006, coinciding with the 231st anniversary of the Corps. Marines are expected to start moving artifacts into the building in November, before the building is even completed.
The museum's central gallery is to be finished in April 2006, and the remainder of the building by June of that year. A "soft opening" is planned for October 2006.
Installing the 50-ton spire was viewed as a significant milestone for the museum, which is the centerpiece of the Marine Corps Heritage Center. The center's 135-acre parcel, sandwiched between I-95 and U.S. 1, is expected to one day include a conference center and hotel, an IMAX theater, parade grounds and Semper Fidelis Memorial Park.
Two overlooks and one trail system within the roughly five-acre park are expected to be ready when the museum opens, said retired Brig. Gen. Gerald McKay, the foundation's chief operating officer. Eventually, the park will include a small chapel for weddings and funerals plus more walking trails and overlook points.
The idea is to provide visitors an area for reflection, McKay said.
With progress on the structure moving steadily forward, fund-raising continues to be a focal point.
The foundation has raised nearly $43 million of the $50 million needed for the building. The money has come from a group of 78 founders, defense and nondefense corporations, foundations and a direct-mail campaign to roughly 65,000 Marines and friends of the Corps, McKay said.
A public fund-raising effort being launched in July is expected to bring in at least $500,000 more, Hord said.
The U.S. Mint is producing a commemorative silver dollar. It will feature the Iwo Jima image captured in the Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal on the front and the eagle, globe and anchor - the Marine Corps emblem - on the back.
Proof coins will sell for $35; uncirculated coins will cost $33. The foundation will receive $10 from each coin sold, McKay said.
Hord also is excited about the possibilities for cross-promotion with the movie "Flags of Our Fathers," due out next year. Filmmaker Steven Spielberg bought the rights to the book by James Bradley, son of one of the men depicted in the Iwo Jima flag-raising photo. Clint Eastwood is directing the film.
"The foundation hopes to reach out to the studios for potential partnering, given so much is focused on the Battle of Iwo Jima," Hord said.
With the spire now in place and clearly visible from I-95, Hord is optimistic the museum will draw crowds when it opens next year.
A December 2001 market analysis by George Mason University professor Stephen S. Fuller projected 240,000 visitors annually for the first phase of the museum. Hord, however, thinks that estimate is too conservative. He thinks annual numbers will be in the "hundreds of thousands."
Foundation officials have been in touch with staff at other museums in Northern Virginia and Washington, seeking to learn from their experiences on everything from construction to fund-raising to public events. They've spoken to officials at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum and its UdvarHazy Center in Loudoun County, and the National Museum of the American Indian recently completed on Washington's National Mall.
"We have tried to glean lessons learned from each of those," Hord said.
Fuller's market analysis suggests the new air and space center near Dulles International Airport and an Army museum being built at Fort Belvoir will join the Marine museum in drawing visitors out of Washington.
Hord sees the highly visible steel-and-concrete spire rising out of the woods beside I-95 as a beacon that will lure a significant segment of the 20 million tourists he said come annually to Washington.
"All of us involved in it believe it will truly be a national treasure," he said.
I'm going to look forward to this.
I'm grateful Clint is directing this movie. i think it stands a chance of being a great movie. Has the casting been completed?
I've seen rumors that casting is just about to start getting underway. Maybe this will be a big summer movie next year . . .
Casting began 11 April, per industry trade papers. Some details *here*.
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