Memorial Park and authorized them to purchase 80 acres of land at and surrounding the site of the massacre from three local families and a local company for $2,000 (USD). The Florida Legislature also appointed the board to maintain and operate the park. After the passage of the bill, Sumter County residents cleared the land to form the park. During the 1920s, Koonce sculpted statues of the soldiers and Seminoles involved in the battle, ordered a bronze statue to portray Dade, built the gazebo, and constructed the monuments indicating where the officers fell. Koonce and his son O. B. Koonce maintained the landscape. He also pushed to have an archway placed at the entrance to the park, the construction of a road leading to the park in 1926, and electric power lines to connect the park to the power grid. Koonce also constructed other statutes, such as a pelican. In 1922, Representative Drane and Chief Clerk Nathan Hazen of the Ordnance Department arranged to have two guns shipped to the Dade Memorial Park. A portrait of Chief Micanopy hung in the lodge and a statute of Osceola close to the lodge honored the two leaders. Centennial of the Dade Massacre In 1935, Koonce promoted the idea to conduct a ceremony commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Dade Massacre. To mark the centennial of the Dade Massacre, organizers planned a reenactment of the battle. The Seminoles were to be invited to join and to formally sign a peace treaty with the United States government. Plans eventually changed to include a parade, a barbecue, concerts, addresses by dignitaries, and a full reenactment. On December 28, 1935, over 5,000 people, including Florida's governor attended the ceremony. World War II During World War II, Dade Memorial Park served as a United States Army installation. The United States Army Air Corps unit trained personnel in Morse code and radio communications from January 1944 to June 1944. On May 29, 1944, members of the 622nd Signal Aircraft Warning Company were transferred to a base in Ocoee, Florida. The park also served as base housing for soldiers operating at the Bushnell Army Airfield. Tents and a supply room lined the area in front of the breastworks while a mess hall, an office, the motor pool, and a shower room flanked the living quarters. Other buildings were also built in other areas of the park. 1950s In 1949,