The Ebenezer Monument

This twelve-foot pillar of fieldstone and cement in Mena was built as a weapon in a culture war. Out in rural Polk County stood Commonwealth College, a left-wing labor school that locals accused of teaching Communism and atheism. In nineteen thirty-six, citizens of Mena raised this monument as a rallying point for their opposition to the school.

They named it Ebenezer, after a verse in First Samuel, hitherto hath the Lord helped us, which is carved into one of its panels along with the date in June of nineteen thirty-six. Inside is a time capsule meant to be opened every fifty years. The original was opened in nineteen eighty-six and refilled with new materials.

The campaign against the college worked. Commonwealth College closed its doors in nineteen forty. The monument joined the National Register in nineteen ninety-two.