Grand Army of the Republic

History

Following the Civil War, soldiers began joining together, first for camaraderie and then for political power.

The most powerful of these various organizations was the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), founded in Decatur, Illinois on April 6, 1866 by Benjamin F. Stephenson. Membership was limited to honorably discharged veterans of the Union Army, Navy, Marine Corps or the Revenue Cutter Service who had served between 1861 and 1865.

The community level organization was called a “Post” and each was named in honor of a deceased person.

Local businessman Fred White had seen a memorial building in Foxboro, Massachusetts, built in 1868. He proposed that Aurora build just such a structure, arguing it would be more useful than an ordinary monument. Aurora’s GAR hall, like Foxboro’s, was designed as a library.

In Aurora, citizens raised the money to build a soldier’s memorial for the Civil War veterans, and in 1877 built the GAR building at a cost of $7,187.54. It is one of Aurora’s most widely recognized historic landmarks, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Constructed of locally quarried limestone, it is designed in the Gothic Revival style with pointed arched windows, and octagon plan. In 1904, an addition for a banquet hall, meeting room, and entrance tower was completed.

By 1885, the Library’s need for expansion was evident. An addition was built onto the southern end of the building in 1885-1886. The GAR building served as the City’s Public Library until 1904 when its new home was built on the south end of Stolp Island. The existing tower was built in 1904, when the Veterans resumed use of the building after the Library relocated.

In the early 1960s, the city of Aurora planned to demolish the GAR building to make room for additional parking, but public outcry saved the original portion of the building. Although the 1885 addition was demolished, the 1904 tower with its castle-like profile also survived. The Foxboro, Massachusetts “twin” of the Aurora GAR Memorial is also still standing.

Right now the building is in the beginning phases of a major restoration project. In the future it will display the archives of the GAR, which includes memorabilia from the Civil War, and subsequent war efforts. These objects are in need of conservation, and a stabilized environment so that they can again be on display to the public.