KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When John Totaro and his wife, Lynn DeLeo-Totaro, visited here in August, it didn’t take them long to spot the National World War I Memorial.

“I saw it from the front of our hotel,” recalled Mr. Totaro, who lives in Manhattan and works in public relations. “It reminded me of the Washington Monument.”

Soaring 217 feet into the skyline, the tower — originally called the Liberty Memorial and now part of the National World War I Museum and Memorial — is hard to miss. Built from 1923 to 1926, it is a bold reminder of the conflict in which 53,000 Americans died in combat, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Veterans Day (formerly Armistice Day), on Nov. 11, was established to commemorate it.

While the memorial honors this city’s residents who served in World War I — in particular, the 441 who died — it is also a tribute to local residents who, during two weeks from late October to early November 1919, raised more than $2.5 million (roughly equivalent to $34 million today) for the memorial. About 83,000 residents, more than a quarter of the city’s population at the time, donated an average $30 each (about $413 today) to the fund-raising drive, much of it done by children going door to door.