World’s Largest Penny

World’s Largest Penny. . The World’s Largest Penny was dedicated on May 29, 1954 as a tribute to the staff and students of Arbor Vitae-Woodruff School. This monument reflects Dr. Kate Pelham Newcomb‘s dream for a local hospital, as well as the community spirit of Woodruff and Arbor Vitae residents and civic groups who donated labor and materials and organized fundraising activities., In the fall of 1952, Otto Burich and his geometry students led a district-wide campaign to collect one million pennies to raise funds for the hospital. Letters were mailed nationwide as part of the fundraising effort. Arbor Vitae-Woodruff grade school students even donated their allowances. In all, 1,700,000 pennies were collected in just 104 days from 48 states. On Memorial Day in 1953, 10,000 people attended the Million Penny Parade in Woodruff to celebrate the achievement. , The World’s Largest Penny is made of concrete block, and is 10 feet in diameter, 18 inches thick, and weighs 17,452 pounds. The students at Arbor Vitae-Woodruff School continued to collect millions of pennies to help fund the Dr. Kate Museum Memorial Scholarship. The enthusiastic students not only saved the hospital project, but they inspired the community and put the small town of Woodruff on the international map.