The Dewey Arch, 5th Avenue, Manhattan 1899

American Mutoscope & Biograph Co.
Filmed October 1, 1899

A view of the arch from Fifth Avenue, the day after the Dewey Parade, showing the crowd of sight-seers, traffic, etc.

Charles R. Lamb (1860-1942) designed the initial model for the arch using the Roman Arch of Titus as a prototype. John Quincy Adams Ward, who was president of the National Sculpture Society at the time, designed part of the sculptural detail of the arch. The Dewey Arch never achieved permanent form. -Smithsonian Archive

The Dewey Arch was a triumphal arch that stood from 1899 to 1901 at Madison Square in Manhattan, New York (5th Avenue & 24th Street). The parade it was constructed for was in honor of Dewey's victory in the Spanish-American War the year before. On April 27, 1898, Admiral George Dewey sailed out from China with orders to attack the Spanish at Manila Bay. He stopped at the mouth of the bay late the night of April 30, and the following morning he gave the order to attack at first light, by saying the now infamous words "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley." Within 6 hours, on May 1, he had sunk or captured the entire Spanish Pacific fleet under Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasarón and silenced the shore batteries at Manila, with the loss of only one life on the American side. -condensed from wiki

Here's a brief actuality of the Dewey Parade: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ezVueCKVOQ

a contemporary article from the New York Times, Sept. 9, 1899, 'Fuss Over Dewey Parade': http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9B07E0DF133DE633A2575AC0A96...

A good photo of the arch and columns: http://www.printcollection.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/product_full/4a...

01/15/12

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• new york city
• nycny
• nyc
• ny
• manhattan
• fifth avenue
• 5th
• ave.
• admiral dewey
• madison square park
• actuality
• actualities
• 1899

[memonk11]

I guess they took that down.