Tower of Compassion turns 50 this year
The pagoda in Longmont’s Kanemoto Park is built on five levels: love, empathy, understanding, gratitude and giving selflessly. Together, they make up what the monument stands for — compassion.
Finished in 1973, the Tower of Compassion turns 50 this year, marking a milestone in the city’s long and treasured relationship with the Kanemoto family.
The Kanemotos have lived in Longmont for more than a century, starting when Japanese immigrant Goroku Kanemoto settled in the city in the 1910s. His sons, Jim and George Kanemoto, found success as vegetable farmers and ultimately acquired 350 acres of land around South Main Street.
“There were several Japanese families around Longmont,” said Jim Kanemoto’s son, Ken. “A lot of them have left and sold their land now, but there was a Japanese community around here.”
Unlike many Japanese- Americans during World War II, the Kanemotos were never sent to an internment camp. The Tower of Compassion is a response to the kindness shown by the city and former Gov. Ralph Carr,
who opposed the internment of Japanese- Americans living in Colorado.
“It was to express gratitude for the community and also give something that would have, hopefully, a deep meaning,” said Karen Wood, George Kanemoto’s daughter.
Inspired by the pagodas he saw during a trip to Japan, Jim Kanemoto oversaw the tower’s construction and worked with local contractors to bring the building to life. Wood, Ken
Kanemoto and Gail Hogsett, Wood’s sister, remember attending the dedication ceremony as young adults in the summer of 1973.
“It was a great event,” Wood said. “I think the family was also relieved that the pagoda was built and done.”
Today, the tower still stands tall over Left Hand Creek and a cluster of cherry trees, even as the red paint of its fence chips and fades with age.
The pagoda remains a wellloved and frequently used site for local gatherings.
The Longmont Buddhist Temple holds an outside service at Kanemoto Park each summer, complete with a meditation walk around the tower. The student ambassadors from Longmont’s sister city of Chino, Japan, usually picnic at Kanemoto Park, as well.
In 2016, the city restored the tower’s woodwork, roofs and interior as part of a rededication of Kanemoto Park after the 2013 flood. In an address at the ceremony seven years ago, Ken Kanemoto thanked the city for making the pagoda’s preservation a priority rather than letting it deteriorate.
Hogsett said it’s hard to believe 50 years have passed since the tower’s founding.
“It always is a nice sense of pride, when you come here and walk up to it,” she said while visiting Kanemoto Park on Tuesday.
For Wood, the anniversary brings with it a moment of reflection on what her family has given, both to her and the Longmont community.
“It’s amazing to me that our parents started with absolutely nothing, and all this hard work they did ( means) we can live the lives we lead,” she said.