Washington Square Arch

By Willie White

  Less than ten years after Henry James first published his great "Washington Square", specifically, on April 30, 1890 a five foot square area was cleared of tree and shrub and ground was broken for the east pier of Washington Square Arch. The crew had just a month to set the foundation in advance of the ceremony the City planned for the setting of the cornerstone. However, all work came to an abrupt halt after a short ten days. The workers had a grisly surprise. Just ten feet beneath the surface, skeletal remains of human beings were discovered. They went down another foot or two and every shovelfull of dirt brought up bones. The residents of Washington Square North congregated to watch this spectacle. This was a rather exclusive neighborhood, even then, and this discovery pointed the area out to have been a "potter's field", a nameless, markerless burial ground for the absolutely destitute.

But one resident, whose name is lost to time, argued with this conclusion. His research had suggested that a paupers' cemetery was only under the south side of the square, and that the prosperous north side had been the site of an old and formal German cemetery. The excavators proved him right, finding the latest headstone dated 1803 on the north end.

  A class distinction north and south of Washington Square predated the 1828 formation of the square itself. By the 1880's tenements had risen on the blocks to the south, which caused a bit of a stir. Some fought against investing the money to build an elegant arch in a poor neighborhood. At the cornerstone laying on May 30, 1890, Henry Marquand, Chairman of the Citizens Committee on Art, addressed the 6000 invited guests, saying, "It is true that the neighborhood may all be tenement houses in a few years. But have the occupants of tenements no sense of beauty? No patriotism? No Right to good architecture?" With these words he baptised in democracy the Washington Memorial Arch. For over a century , it has made good on his words.

  The first arch was made of wood, designed by Stanford White, great architect of the age of opulence. It was originally constructed for the Centennial of Washington's Inauguration. The celebration took place on April 30, 1889. Festooned with papier mache wreaths and garlands of flowers, lit up with hundreds of newly invented incandescent lights, the whole thing cost a whopping $2700. The arch was the hit of the ceremonies. Two days later the Marble and final version was commissioned. White also designed that. By April of 1892 the last block was in place, though the arch wasn't dedicated until May 4, 1895!

   Washington's likenesses were not added until 1916 when the east pier's "Washington at War" by Herman MacNeil was unveiled. Two years later the west pier's "Washington at peace" by A. Stirling Calder was dedicated. Both have suffered erosion during the age of the automobile and the formerly fine features of Washington are pitted and broken down so, he is no longer really recognizable. Perhaps it's time to redo them in bronze. For the next century. Why not?