Union Army Veterans and an Injury at Union Station
| Publication year | 2022 |
| Pages | 22 |
Historical Perspectives
by Frank Gibbard
In 1866, Dr. Benjamin F. Stephenson founded the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) in Decatur, Illinois, to honor Union veterans of the Civil War. The GAR was a fraternal society of honorably discharged Union veterans. It was organized along military lines, its members wore military-style uniforms, and it had community level organizations called "Posts" throughout the United States. Within the city of Denver alone, there were nine GAR Posts.
During its peak, the GAR had over 400,000 members and was a powerful political lobby.[1]It sponsored legislation benefiting veterans, supported voting rights for Black veterans, and played a key role in the establishment of Memorial Day as a national holiday. Five of its members were elected as US president, and for a time, GAR support was crucial to becoming a Republican presidential nominee.[2]
Every year, the GAR selected a US city to host its annual "encampment." The elaborate multiday affair brought huge numbers of people into the host city, and city boosters touted its benefits to the local economy and potential to elevate the city's status.
During the GAR's existence, Denver hosted the encampment three times—in 1883, 1905, and 1928. But the second event, held between September 4 and 9, 1905, greatly eclipsed the other two encampments in both size and grandeur. According to a 2005 Denver Post article chronicling the event: "Mammoth flags and red-white-and-blue bunting draped almost every downtown building, fife-and-drum corps played without stop and everywhere there was a wave of patriotism and admiration."[3]
Leading up to the event, however, there was clearly some anxiety in the young and bustling city about whether its management of this encampment would help establish its reputation as a premier convention location.
Denver Prepares for the Big Show
Denver went all out for the event. The Colorado legislature appropriated $25,000 to entertain GAR members during the encampment, which was estimated to "bring to this city perhaps as great a number of visitors as Denver and Colorado have ever been called upon to entertain."[4]In addition to a massive 18-band parade that closed banks and schools, "[t]here were nightly performances by Indian dancers, a campfire at Broadway and Colfax, banquets, dances and ballgames."[5] The Woman's Relief Corps, a female auxiliary group that benefited significantly from the contributions of its Black women members, was also well represented.[6]
Part of the required infrastructure involved transportation to the city, which in 1905 meant rail travel. The Denver and Rio Grande Railway took the lead in providing rail service to Denver for the event.[7] The massive number of attendees expected guaranteed a huge crowd at Denver's Union Station during the first two weeks of September. By the first day of the encampment, an estimated 50,000 people had already descended on Denver.[8] The Denver and Rio Grande later estimated that railroads sold over 85,000 train tickets to the event, which suggests the city's population nearly doubled during "Grand Army week."[9]
Wolfe Londoner's Accident
One member of the crowd at Union Station during the encampment was Denver's former mayor Wolfe Londoner.[10] The affable entrepreneur, politician, and all-around jokester, who had resigned in disgrace in 1891 from his mayoral position amidst allegations of massive voter fraud abetted by Old West legends "Soapy" Smith and Bat Masterson,[11] had since returned to a more sedate life in the grocery business. In early September 1905, he traveled...
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