100 Years Ago Today: Arch Conspirators Declare “Free and Independent Republic of Washington Square”

Arch Conspirators by John Sloan
Arch Conspirators by John Sloan

No Nor’easter on that night! On January 23, 1917, 6 artists, including John Sloan, Marcel Duchamp, and Gertrude Drick, made their way to the top of the Washington Square Arch after sneaking through an unguarded door, and threw a party, but one with a mission.

They called themselves the “Arch Conspirators” and, once atop the Arch, proclaimed their declaration for “The Free and Independent Republic of Washington Square.”

Some more details of that winter night which has shaped the spirit of the Greenwich Village park to this day:

Gertrude Drick first conceived of her plan to claim Greenwich Village’s independence when she noticed a discrete door on the West pier of the Washington Square Arch. And most significantly, the door was often unattended due to the resident policeman’s propensity to abandon his station for hours at a time.

Drick, an artist and poet, had come to Greenwich Village from Texas to study under painter John Sloan. She had gained notoriety in the Village under the self-imposed nickname ‘Woe’, so that when asked her name she would respond ‘Woe is me.’ She was also a known prankster, and after seeing the door approached Sloan with a plan to hold a mock revolution, an opportunity to recapture Washington Square Park in the name of bohemian unconventionality.

Drick and Sloan recruited their fellow bohemians: the actors Forrest Mann, Charles Ellis, and Betty Turner, and the artist Marcel Duchamp to join their rebellion. …

After dark on January 23, 1917, Drick and friends met on lower Fifth Avenue. With no sign of the meandering police officer, they opened the door, climbed up the spiral staircase, pushed open the trap door, and emerged on the top of Washington Square Arch. The bohemians came armed with food, plenty of liquor, hot water bottles for warmth, Chinese lanterns, red balloons, toy pistols, and of course, the Declaration of Independence of the Greenwich Republic, thought to have been written by Duchamp.

The conspirators sat around a small fire and recited verses of poetry while enjoying a picnic. Finally, Drick thought it was time to read aloud their Declaration of Independence. The document itself contained a mockingly high usage of the word ‘whereas,’ which was repeated again and again.

The Free and Independent Republic of Washington Square was born.

The next day, all that remained of their late night mischief were several red balloons, but within a day almost “everyone south of 14th street knew of their status as a liberated community,” and the wealthier inhabitants of Washington Square North found little humor in the “bohemian tomfoolery.”

Sloan commemorated the event in his now famous etching, Arch Conspirators, depicting all six rebels reveling in their moment on top of the arch while Fifth Avenue continues to function like normal down below.

Source: Creating Digital History

Of course, wealthy neighbors in the area were not amused, and, after the ebullient declaration, the door to the Arch was firmly secured.

Could Washington Square Park ever be “recaptured (again) in the name of bohemian unconventionality?” Or have those days come and gone?

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Etching, Arch Conspirators by John Sloan; from left to right: Frederick Ellis, Marcel Duchamp, Gertrude S. Drick, Allen Russell Mann, Betty Turner, and John Sloan

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1 thought on “100 Years Ago Today: Arch Conspirators Declare “Free and Independent Republic of Washington Square””

  1. Sounds similar to bohemians demonstrating in Washington Square Park during the 60s and 70s against the Vietnam war and for civil rights of which I was a participant.

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