Grant’s Tomb at General Grant National Memorial

General Grant’s Mausoleum is typically open year-round on Wednesdays through Sundays from 10 AM to either 4 or 5 PM, depending on the season. It is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. Keep in mind that times can always change, so be sure to get the latest schedule on the National Park Service’s Operating Hours and Seasons web page for General Grant National Memorial.

A visit to Grant’s Tomb, the largest mausoleum in the United States, takes most people no more than five minutes. It is not a museum; there are no exhibits inside to take up your time. It is a mausoleum. You can view the red granite sarcophagi of Ulysses S. Grant and his wife, Julia, from the entrance level, and if you want to see more, you can walk down to the lower level where you will find busts of various generals who served under Grant when he was the commander of the Union Army towards the end of the Civil War. There is also a display of Civil War-era flags and a few murals. That’s it. When I was there, most people walked in, took a look at the coffins, and walked out. You may not spend a lot of time at the mausoleum, but you will be able to answer the age-old question first asked by comedian Ed Wynn in 1925 and popularized by Groucho Marx in the 1940s: “Who’s buried in Grant’s Tomb?”

There are no tours of the mausoleum, but park Rangers or knowledgeable volunteers are inside to answer any questions. Keep in mind that the mausoleum is not wheelchair accessible.

View of Ulysses and Julia Grant’s sarcophagi (photo by Mike Steele)

As Grant was dying from throat cancer in early 1885, he and his son, Fred, discussed burial location options. Most people expected the General to be buried in Washington, D. C. In fact, when money was being raised to build the New York City memorial, the Union Veterans’ Organization—the largest of its type—was so opposed to the idea that the group refused to donate any money to the project. Grant really didn’t care much as to where he was buried, only insisting that wherever it was, his wife would one day be buried beside him.

Sarcophagi of Ulysses and Julia Grant inside mausoleum at General Grant National Memorial

He mentioned the cemetery at West Point Military Academy, but since his wife could not be buried there, he ruled out that option. Other choices were St. Louis, where his wife was from and where his children had been born, and Galena, Illinois, where he had lived before the war. He also mentioned New York City, which is where he had been living for the past few years. He spent his final months at the country home of banker Joseph Drexel on Mount McGregor in upstate New York (which is where he died). But as noted, the site wasn’t a priority to him.

Within hours after his death on July 23, 1885, the Grant family received a telegram from the mayor of New York City, William Grace, offering a spot in any of the city’s public parks, suggesting Riverside Park as a prime location. A few days later, Fred Grant traveled from Mount McGregor to New York City to scout locations, with Central Park topping his list. At the time, Riverside was out in the country, and even New Yorkers didn’t know where it was. However, the park had very few trees, and being one of the highest points in Manhattan, offered great views of the Hudson River. It could be seen from New Jersey and by everyone traveling on the Hudson River. After the tour of the city was over, Fred returned to Mount McGregor and discussed the issue with the family. Riverside Park was the choice.

Mayor Grace immediately proposed that some sort of grand memorial be built, and the idea was well received, but no plan of scope or design was discussed. It was clear, however, that Grant would have to be placed in a custom-built temporary burial vault while the details of the memorial were worked out. After his funeral was held on August 8^th, Grant was buried in a vault on Riverside Drive very near to where the eventual mausoleum was built. There he would lie for the next twelve years.

Funding for the memorial was the work of the Grant Monument Association (GMA), a collection of 85 wealthy New Yorkers that was formed on July 28th, only five days after Grant died. Former president Chester Arthur was made chairman, and Richard Greener, the first black graduate of Harvard and a vocal supporter of Grant, was elected secretary.

Despite the groups’ connections, money was hard to come by in the early days. There was still much controversy over where Grant should be buried, for regardless of his family’s desire, Grant was still considered a public official, and the country felt it had a say in the matter. Furthermore, bad press didn’t help any. Newspapermen outside of New York insisted that New Yorkers had enough money to fund the project without begging from less-well-off states, and local papers criticized the wealthy GMA members for hardly donating anything themselves. Other reporters wrote that the burial at Riverside Park was just a ploy to boost real estate prices in the area. However, the general public was most apprehensive about donating because there was no published plan for the memorial. It wouldn’t be until over two years later in January 1888 that a design competition was even held.

After the first contest yielded nothing worth approving, a second contest was held in April 1890, though this time only five architects were asked to enter. Architect John Duncan was chosen as the winner in September. The estimated cost was $1 million, but only $150,000 had been raised. Despite this, excavation of the memorial site began in June 1891 with hopes of raising more money before the funds on hand had run out.

GMA turned to the state of New York for funds, but was denied. During this time Horace Porter was elected as the new president, the fifth since GMA had been formed. Richard Greener resigned as secretary, for there had been some controversy over his salary as compared to the work he was actually doing, and James Read took his place. Many of the other members resigned and were replaced in the following days, for membership and loyalty fell along the Republican and Democrat political party lines.

The new management hired an outsider to run the fundraising campaign. Edward Cragin had headed Chicago’s bid to host the 1893 World’s Fair, among other large events. He felt that since the rest of the country was against Grant being buried in New York that the majority of the fundraising effort should be made in New York. His plan was to rally New York citizens and businessmen to donate $350,000 in thirty days, thus showing that New York didn’t need the rest of the country’s approval to bury Grant.

The cornerstone laying ceremony for the mausoleum was held on April 27, 1892, and headed by President Harrison. Over 60,000 people attended. Porter announced that the GMA was only able to raise $200,000 in the thirty days, which was short of the goal but $50,000 more than the previous board members were able to raise in six years. Pleas for more donations were made so that the goal of $350,000 could be reached by Memorial Day. This was accomplished with the help of large donations from the likes of John Rockefeller, Cornelius Vanderbilt, William Astor, and other wealthy businessmen. When all was said and done, nearly $600,000 had been raised, enough to finish the project, but not on as grand a scale as had originally been intended.

Grant’s Tomb was completed and dedicated on April 27, 1897, the 75^th birthday of the General. Over the course of construction, the plans were modified many times. In fact, the finished building is a scaled-down version of Duncan’s original proposal. The original was to be 100 square feet and 160 feet tall, while the finished mausoleum is 90 square feet and only 150 feet tall. Eight thousand tons of granite were used for the monument’s exterior, and marble was used for the interior. Though not as large as envisioned, the mausoleum is more than enough for one man.

Ulysses S. Grant’s mausoleum, General Grant National Memorial

Each sarcophagus was cut from red granite and weighed 8.5 tons. The original idea was to place Grant’s sarcophagus in the center of a granite platform, then move it to the side to make room for the second sarcophagus when Julia died. However, Julia, who was as skeptical as Grant was that she would be buried next to him, insisted that Grant’s sarcophagus be place to the side from the start. Hers was added a few years later, sitting empty until she died on December 14, 1902.

Lower level view of the Grant sarcophagi, General Grant National Memorial

Many changes to Grant’s Tomb were made over the years. Because so many people visited the tomb, a permanent restroom was built to the west of the building around 1910. This is used as the Visitor Center today. When built, the top level was used as an observation deck and had great views of the Hudson River. Today, trees have grown up and blocked the view.

The display of Civil War-era flags was added around 1900, though the display case today is not the original. The National Park Service destroyed the original cases in 1970.

Current display of Civil War-era flags inside Ulysses S. Grant’s mausoleum at General Grant National Memorial

The Tiffany Company replaced the most visible windows with purple stained glass in 1913 (the original windows were clear). In 1939, the purple stained glass, now deemed too gloomy, was replaced with the amber glass that is still seen today (the design of the windows did not change, only the glass).

Amber glass in the stained-glass windows of Grant’s Tomb, General Grant National Memorial

The mausoleum never had much in the way of decoration due to the initial lack of funds. For the next thirty years, talk arose every now and then about adding some of the decorative elements that were omitted, particularly an equestrian statue of Grant for the front plaza and four horse sculptures for over the central four columns at the entrance. When John Russell Pope, the designer of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D. C., became involved in the 1920s, a plan to incorporate many of the original ornamental statues, plus some additional ideas, was devised at a cost of $450,000. A fundraising effort was made, and though only $100,000 was raised, work began after millionaire William Rhinelander Stewart guaranteed the funds if they could not be raised elsewhere. Unfortunately, all of this happened just as the stock market crashed in October 1929 (plus Stewart had died a month earlier). No additional sculptures were ever produced. The only thing to come of the venture was a model of the Grant equestrian statue that was done by sculptor Paul Manship before the funds dried up. This is now on display in the Visitor Center exhibit room.

Paul Manship’s equestrian model on display at the General Grant National Memorial Visitor Center

By the mid-1930s, the memorial was beginning to deteriorate. In response to the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt had created the Works Progress Administration, an organization designed to put men back to work. The WPA was responsible for the creation of many state and national parks during this time, and some money was set aside for restoration work on Grant’s Tomb. The marble floors and ceiling were replaced and the exterior and interior were cleaned.

It was also during this time that the busts of five of Grant’s generals—William Sherman, Philip Sheridan, George Thomas, James MacPherson, and Edward Ord—were installed in the alcoves on the lower floor. The alcoves were originally supposed to hold eternal flames.

Alcove on the lower level of the Grant mausoleum, General Grant National Memorial

Bust of General Sherman inside Grant’s Tomb, General Grant National Memorial

New York’s old Post Office was torn down, and two eagles that once decorated the building were offered to the GMA. They were accepted and placed on either side of the entrance staircase.

Eagle from the old post office now on display at the staircase to Grant’s Tomb, General Grant National Memorial

All restoration work was completed by 1939, and the memorial was rededicated on April 27^th. The cost of the project was approximately $300,000, partially paid for by the money raised before the Great Depression hit.

The mausoleum had always been the property of the Grant Monument Association. However, after World War II it was becoming clear that the GMA would not be able to pay for the memorial’s upkeep much longer. The suggestion of transferring it to the Federal government came up in the early 1950s, and by the end of 1953 the Department of the Interior had been approached about taking over the memorial. The idea was originally dismissed by President Dwight Eisenhower, but after officials from the National Park Service visited in October 1955, interest by the government was revived. In 1958, Eisenhower signed the legislation that created General Grant National Memorial. The National Park Service officially took over the site in May 1959.

Up until the National Park Service’s involvement, Grant’s Tomb was just that—a tomb. People who came to visit came to see the grave of the General. The National Park Service wanted to change it into a memorial to Grant, complete with exhibits and interpretive programs. Furthermore, contrary to what would be done today, plans were made to make additions to the tomb, including the installation of murals in the upper lunettes of the rotunda in 1965 and 1966. At the time, the National Park Service’s goal was to draw visitors to the park, and new additions to spruce things up were certainly welcome. Today it’s all about restoration and historical preservation, and the murals would never be added. In fact, additions like the murals, the eagles on the front steps, and the busts of Grant’s generals would normally be removed to restore the tomb to its 1897 appearance. However, everything has been left intact because the additions themselves are now considered to be of historical value.

Mural of Grant and Lee at Appomattox on April 9, 1865, inside Grant’s Tomb, General Grant National Memorial

Mural of Grant and General George Thomas on Missionary Ridge in Chattanooga on November 23, 1863, inside Grant’s Tomb, General Grant National Memorial

Mural of Grant at Vicksburg inside Grant’s Tomb, General Grant National Memorial

The exterior décor of the building was altered once again in 1974 when three benches covered with abstract mosaic artwork were installed. These were created by local artists, and the only reason they have not been removed is because the local community was involved and many of the people are still alive. At the time, graffiti on the mausoleum was a problem, and it was thought that if the community got involved in an art project that perhaps a renewed interest in the tomb and local civic pride would curb the vandalism.

Bench from the early 1970s community art project (photo by Mike Steele)

Over a half-million visitors came to Grant’s Tomb in the eight months after it opened in 1897, and throughout the first two decades of the 1900s visitation averaged a half-million people a year. The tomb was one of the biggest tourist attractions in New York, even outdrawing the Statue of Liberty, which had opened ten years prior to the mausoleum. However, visitation declined as Civil War veterans and people who lived during the war began to die off. Today, only about 100,000 people visit the tomb each year, ranking it in the lower half of the 400+ National Parks operating today. The Statue of Liberty, on the other hand, is one of the Top 25 National Parks as far as visitation goes. It gets about 3.5 million visitors a year, and millions more pass by it on sight-seeing cruises of Upper New York Bay.

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