History Comes Alive

High atop a ridge on the Upper West Side, in a serene and remote corner of the city that overlooks the Hudson River, stands a temple as magnificent and historically relevant as the Washington and Lincoln Memorials in the nation's capital.

The General Grant National Memorial — more widely known as "Grant's Tomb" — has adorned this spot since its commemoration 110 years ago. Here are held the remains of Ulysses S. Grant and his wife, Julia Grant.

It is the largest mausoleum in America, covering 8,100 square feet and rising 150 feet above ground. The temple is marble domed with white Doric columns and is surrounded by tall oak trees and groomed grass. The site that stands on the edges of the Columbia University campus and across the street from the Riverside Church attracts 100,000 visitors annually, including many students who enjoy studying on the benches of the peaceful environs.

Recently, the Tomb celebrated Grant's 185th birthday and the 10th anniversary of its $1.8 million restoration project completed in time for its centennial celebration in 1997. When he died, Grant had been elevated to the status of a national hero who had saved the nation from dissolution as commander of all Union armies in the Civil War, and as a president who ushered in an era of peace and equality.

For 12 years the remains of Grant were housed in a temporary vault in Riverside Park in preparation for transfer to the Tomb that had yet to be built. In 1897, it was dedicated in a ceremony presided over by President McKinley and attended by roughly one million people. For many years, Grant's Tomb was one of the most celebrated buildings in the nation, and it remained unsurpassed in popularity among the city's attractions until the end of the First World War.

In later years, though, attendance dropped and the Tomb fell into serious disrepair. Beginning in the 1960s and lasting well into the 1990s it degenerated into a national disgrace. There was natural neglect, but even worse was the way the grounds were treated by the citizenry. The National Memorial became an attraction for vandals, prostitutes, and drug abusers. The exterior was marred by extensive graffiti and was being used as a shelter and bathroom by the homeless.

During those years, attendance fell to roughly 45,000 annually. In the 1970s, the U.S. Military Academy band — for years a regular participant at Grant birthday celebrations — played to smaller-and- smaller audiences, until one year it outnumbered them altogether and stopped participating. Nobody seemed to care anymore about Ulysses S. Grant or his memorial.

But in 1990, PBS aired "The Civil War," an extensive and widely acclaimed documentary by the director, Ken Burns, and there was a resurgence of interest in this period of history across the nation. Attendance at the Tomb grew to about 80,000 annually in the ensuing years, and many were appalled by its condition. As the city was undergoing a renaissance and cleaning up its subways, Time Square, and Central Park, and was cracking down on crime and restoring the Statue of Liberty and Grand Central Station, Grant's Tomb was forgotten on its uptown ridge.

During this time, a Columbia student and caretaker at the Tomb, Frank Scaturro, became disturbed with the National Parks Service, which has administered the site since 1959, and its neglect and apathy for the site. Having exhausted all attempts to draw NPS attention to the problems, in 1994, Mr. Scaturro prepared a report for government officials and the public that detailed the Tomb's "deplorable condition and bureaucratic neglect" and proposed solutions. His work caught the attention of attorney Ed Hochman, who along with Grant's great-grandson, Ulysses Grant Dietz, and the Illinois State Legislature filed a lawsuit seeking to force the NPS to restore the monument or move the remains of Mr. and Mrs. Grant to Illinois.

Grant had considered Illinois for his final resting place until his wife picked New York upon his death. The NPS, along with the work of Senator D'Amato and Rep. Jerrold Nadler, was moved to spend almost $2-million on the Tomb's renovation.

In addition to making badly needed repairs, the NPS, for the first time, barricaded the grounds at closing and implemented 24-hour security to deter vandalism. Today, the tomb is no longer adorned with graffiti but instead with Old Glory and red-white-and–blue bunting. The crowds have returned as well as the bands and ceremonies.

But there is more work that needs to be done. The renovation of 10 years ago was rapid and impressive. Yet it was applied almost exclusively to the front, or south side of the monument. Around back, the paths leading to the Tomb as well as the stairways leading to them remain cracked and splintered.

An overlook pavilion that could provide majestic views of the Hudson River just to the west of the Tomb, that once housed public restrooms, which has been in shambles for more than 40 years, has been closed. Because of this nuisance, the National Memorial remains one of the only public attractions of its kind without any public restrooms. And finally, the Tomb has no visitor center.

The National Park Service has proposed the creation of a "partial" visitor center on the site of the now dilapidated pavilion, or a more elaborate one on the now unkempt grounds just to the north of the Tomb. But the estimates to build either one are far above what the NPS has to allocate to the Grant Memorial, and neither property is administered by the NPS but instead the New York City Parks Department. The Grant Monument Association is pushing for this property to be transferred to the NPS, a move they say the city would welcome since it shows no interest in its upkeep.

A new generation is discovering Grant's Tomb and this encourages Mr. Scaturro to do more work. "People who come here from elsewhere are often most deeply aware of the value of freedoms we take for granted," said Ulysses Grant Dietz.

Mr. Lanzillotti is a Republican associate district leader in Manhattan's 69th Assembly District, the area that includes Grant's Tomb.