109 Years Ago: Arch Conspirators Declared “Free and Independent Republic of Washington Square” Atop Arch

Local Artists in 1917 Sought a Greenwich Village “Free From Mainstream Convention” – Has This Spirited Notion Come and Gone?

On January 23, 1917, six artists, including John Sloan, Marcel Duchamp, and Gertrude Drick, self-named the “Arch Conspirators,” proclaimed their declaration for “The Free and Independent Republic of Washington Square.” The intent? A neighborhood free from mainstream convention.

It was 109 years ago when these artists snuck through an unguarded door of the Washington Square Arch, made their way to the top and threw a party – one with a mission.

Battle Today between People who use the Park and how Park is Governed

There remains a battle between forces on the ground and behind-the-scenes over how the park is governed and what degree of “unconventionality” is allowed. And the inane focus on “clean, safe, beautiful.” So sanitized. So against the essence of this park.

I started this blog (18 years ago this month) committed to the idea that Washington Square Park remained informed by the free spirited “Arch Conspirators'”‘ takeover of the Arch in 1917. Sadly, I don’t know if this is so anymore.

There remains a battle between forces on the ground – park users – and behind-the-scenes over how the park is governed and what degree of “unconventionality” is allowed. And the inane focus on “clean, safe, beautiful.” So sanitized. So against the essence of this park.

How it happened that night many years ago:

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 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 Free and Independent Republic of Washington Square was born.

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

Wealthy neighbors in the area were not amused. After the ebullient declaration, the door to the Arch was firmly secured.

Would Wealthy Neighbors Today Celebrate this Moment?

Now we have the Washington Square Park private Conservancy running the park despite Community Board 2 stating in its own resolution that this would never happen – as if the four socialite founders could relate to this: their only aim to further sanitize the park. The private org’s socialite founders with their addresses on Fifth Avenue would have been the first ones to condemn the Arch Conspirators’ action, lock the Arch door, and call the police.

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

* * *

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