Grand Army of the Republic Arch

A temporary triumphal arch that spanned Olive Street at Twelfth, built to look like heavy masonry. Rusticated piers rose on each side, each pierced by a niche with a cannon muzzle pointing out, and hung with a large five-pointed star, the badge of the Grand Army, and an American shield under a carved eagle. Across the single round arch ran the words Grand Army of the Republic. Above the keystone sat a medallion with a figure of a soldier, framed by crossed flags and trophies. On top stood a four-horse chariot group at the center, with cannons and their gunners at the corners, and flags flew from the roof.

St. Louis put up the arch for the Twenty-first National Encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Union veterans' organization, held in the city during the last week of September 1887. The city decorated its main streets with evergreens, bunting, inscriptions of welcome and several triumphal arches, and strung gas and electric lights to make them brilliant at night. Emil Boehl photographed this arch at Olive and Twelfth in August, before the veterans arrived. Heavy rain spoiled much of the week. The grand parade, set for Tuesday, September 27, was pushed back a day and then marched in a downpour. The reviewing stand stood beside the arch, and General William T. Sherman watched from it as ten divisions of veterans passed beneath, the Department of Missouri first. Harper's Weekly published Charles Graham's drawing of the scene, the band marching through the arch past a crowd under umbrellas, on October 8, 1887. Like the other decorations, the arch was taken down after the encampment.