One of the city’s other best examples, the Light Guard Armory, was designed by Richardson himself but torn down more than half a century ago.
1861 GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC MEDAL WINDOWS
Richardson that produced castle-like buildings with heavy stone blocks, small windows and arches. The GAR was erected from a design by architect Julius Hess and is one of Detroit’s best examples of Richardsonian Romanesque architecture, a 19th century style named for renowned master H.H. To pay for the construction, the City of Detroit sold $38,000 in bonds, while local GAR posts pitched in the rest. The triangular-shaped building would open a year later at a cost of $44,000 (about $1.08 million today). 1899,” it says on the other.īut Cass’ will carried a catch: It said the land belonged to the City of Detroit on the condition that it forever be used for a “market place.” The interpretation of “market place” was broadened to include storefronts, so it was decided the memorial would have shops. “Memorial to the Soldiers and Sailors of 1861 to 1865,” the GAR’s cornerstone reads on one side in a Gothic font. secretary of war and a presidential candidate. Cass is one of the city’s most storied and important figures and a onetime governor of the Michigan territory, as well as U.S. The building’s cornerstone - marked as a memorial to the soldiers of 1861 to 1865 - was laid July 4, 1899, on land that had been willed to the city by Gen.
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Such pulling power meant that the group had no problem pressuring the City of Detroit to build them a base of operations, the largest GAR hall ever built in Michigan.
1861 GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC MEDAL FREE
Woodford reminiscenced in a 1949 Detroit Free Press column. “There was a time when a GAR badge was necessary for election to any office in the North, from President to village constable,” Frank B. To a degree, it also was one of the first highly organized group lobbying on a nationwide level. This made the organization one of the most potent political forces in American politics. In 1881, the GAR had only 87,718 members by 1890, it claimed more than 490,000. The Grand Army of the Republic was a nationwide organization organized in 1866 by union surgeon Dr.
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While its turrets and battlements make it look like some sort of ancient fort built to defend the city from invaders, it’s origins are far more humble: It opened was a hangout for the city's Civil War veterans. Towering over the corner of Grand River and Cass is Detroit's castle, the Grand Army of the Republic Building.