Perhaps it is one of those little known facts of World War I that the war ended for the United States near what is now a traffic circle in New Jersey.

We all remember the Treaty of Versailles–you do remember the Treaty of Versailles, don’t you? Treaties in this country have to be ratified by the Senate, which did not happen in this case.

This meant a separate peace with Germany had to be negotiated. It was not until the summer of 1921 that a joint Congressional resolution was offered as an alternative of the treaty. However, President Warren G. Harding was not in Washington to sign the resolution. Instead he was at the estate of New Jersey Senator Joseph Frelinghuysen, a friend and colleague of Harding’s from his days in the Senate.

The resolution was taken to New Jersey and Harding took time out from his golf game–some things never change–to sign it on July 2, 1921. The war was officially over.

The Frelinghuysen estate is long gone, but the event is remembered with a small monument in a traffic circle at the location. See the link for more information.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-spot-where-wwi-ended-bridgewater-new-jersey


Blair Tarr is the Museum Curator of the Kansas State Historical Society. He oversees the three-dimensional collections of the Society, but has special interests in the Civil War, Wichita-made Valentine diners, and Leavenworth's Abernathy Furniture. In the last few years he has also done a lot of cramming on The Great War. He is a past president of the Kansas Museums Association and the Civil War Round Tables of both Kansas City and Eastern Kansas. He is currently a board member of the Heritage League of Greater Kansas City.