Dedicated to the Spirit of Service

The Extra Mile was created in honor of President George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush and was dedicated to the spirit of service in America. On Oct. 14, 2005, the opening dedication ceremony celebrated President Bush and revealed the 33 inducted honorees. It still stands as a permanent representation of the president’s ensuring legacy of service in America, and it is the only monument in the nation that has been created to honor regular citizens for the work that they’ve done for their country.

The Extra Mile

The Extra Mile – Points of Light Volunteer Pathway is a mile-long walking path in the heart of Washington, D.C., honoring the actions and service of famous Americans who have transformed the nation and the world.

In the Heart of Washington, D.C.

Just blocks from the White House, the monument begins at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and 15th Street, and continues north on 15th Street to G street, NW. Formed by a series of bronze medallions creating the one-mile historic walking path, the monument honors individuals whose actions and commitment to service have transformed our nation. Their legacies are enduring social movements that continue to engage and inspire us today.

Who Will You See?

The medallions on The Extra Mile honor the incredible social change that can happen when people become fully participatory citizens. These individuals have changed the world as we know it through their dedicated service.

  • Jane Addams

    Founder, Hull House

  • Edgar Allen

    Founder, Easter Seals

  • Ethel Percy Andrus

    Founder, AARP

  • Susan B. Anthony

    Suffragist

  • Roger Nash Baldwin

    Founder, American Civil Liberties Union

  • Ruth Standish Baldwin & Dr. George Haynes

    Founders, National Urban League

  • Ida Wells-Barnett

    Leader of the anti-Lynching movement

  • Clara Barton

    Founder, American Red Cross

  • Clifford Beers

    Founder of the modern mental healthcare movement

  • Ballington & Maud Booth

    Founders, Volunteers of America

  • William D. Boyce

    Founder, Boy Scouts of America

  • Wallace Campbell

    Founder, CARE

  • Rachel Carson

    Environmentalist

  • Cesar Chavez

    Co-founder, United Farm Workers of America

  • Ernest Kent Coulter

    Founder, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America

  • Dorothea Dix

    Advocate of the Reform of Institutions for the Mentally Ill

  • Frederick Douglass

    Abolitionist

  • Millard & Linda Fuller

    Founder and Co-founder, Habitat for Humanity

  • Samuel Gompers

    Founder, American Federation of Labor

  • Charlotte & Luther Gulick

    Founder, Camp Fire

  • William Edwin Hall

    President, Boys and Girls Clubs of America

  • Paul Harris

    Founder, Rotary International

  • Edgar J. Helms

    Founder, Goodwill Industries

  • Melvin Jones

    Founder, International Association of Lions Clubs

  • Helen Keller

    Founder, American Foundation for the Blind

  • Martin Luther King, Jr

    Civil Rights Leader

  • Juliette Gordon Low

    Founder, Girl Scouts of the USA

  • John Muir

    Conservationist

  • Mary White Ovington & W. E. B. Du Bois

    Founders, NAACP

  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver

    Founder, Special Olympics

  • Robert Smith & William Wilson

    Co-founders, Alcoholics Anonymous

  • Harriet Tubman

    Leader of Underground Railroad Effort to Free Slaves

  • Booker T. Washington

    Civil Rights Leader