Building The Arch
Newport News served as a Port of Embarkation for the American armed forces during World War I. Following the Armistice, almost half a million American troops were set to return to America via the ports of the city. Public desire to build an arch was high, mimicking the erection of similar arches elsewhere in the country. While many wished the structure to be permanent, the rate at which soldiers were already returning made this unfeasible. It was then decided to build a temporary arch, and to revisit the idea of a permanent arch at a later date.
Funding was achieved through public subscription drives, and work on the arch began quickly. The original building was hollow - the framework was made of brick and wood, with stucco making up the exterior. The arch was completed (mostly with volunteer labor) in April 1919. As troops returned to American soil, they were marched under the arch. Initial crowds were small, but with the help of the city's Welcome Home Committee, soon every ship full of soldiers was met by a large crowd of local citizens.
Read more about this topic: Newport News Victory Arch
Famous quotes containing the words building the, building and/or arch:
“The real dividing line between early childhood and middle childhood is not between the fifth year and the sixth year—it is more nearly when children are about seven or eight, moving on toward nine. Building the barrier at six has no psychological basis. It has come about only from the historic-economic-political fact that the age of six is when we provide schools for all.”
—James L. Hymes, Jr. (20th century)
“... what’s been building since the 1980’s is a new kind of social Darwinism that blames poverty and crime and the crisis of our youth on a breakdown of the family. That’s what will last after this flurry on family values.”
—Stephanie Coontz (b. 1944)
“Prayer is the fair and radiant daughter of all the human virtues, the arch connecting heaven and earth, the sweet companion that is alike the lion and the dove; and prayer will give you the key of heaven. As pure and as bold as innocence, as strong as all things are that are entire and single, this fair and invincible queen rests on the material world; she has taken possession of it; for, like the sun, she casts about it a sphere of light.”
—Honoré De Balzac (1799–1850)