U.S.S. Maine National Monument Stock Photo

At the southwestern entrance to Central Park stands the 57-foot-high U.S.S. Maine National Monument, which honors the American sailors lost when the Navy vessel, the U.S.S. Maine, exploded in 1898 and sank in Havana harbor in Cuba.Days after the tragedy, newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst started a campaign for a memorial to honor the lost sailors. He used his newspaper, the New York Morning Journal, as a platform for the effort. Large and small donations poured in from across the City.