Grant's Tomb, New York City, c. 1900
Suggested Teaching Instructions
Soon after Grant's death, the Grant Monument Association was formed to oversee the construction of a tomb befitting the national hero. Two competitions were held to determine the design of the tomb. The winning design, submitted by architect John H. Duncan, was partly modeled after one of the seven wonders of the world. Grant had been so popular with the American public that ninety thousand people donated money for the construction of his tomb.
Meanwhile, Grant's body was placed in a temporary tomb in Riverside Park. On April 27, 1892, seventy years after Grant's birth and nearly seven years after his death, President Benjamin Harrison laid the cornerstone of the new tomb. Over the next six years, more than 8,000 tons of granite were used in constructing Grant's Tomb, which is still the largest mausoleum in North America. Grant's Tomb was dedicated on April 27, 1897, which would have been his seventy-fifth birthday. A public holiday was declared for the dedication. Like Grant's funeral twelve years earlier, the dedication featured a parade of 60,000 marchers and was observed by one million people.