Roosevelt Arch

I think it’s time I talked about the Roosevelt Arch, the stone gateway near the North entrance that for over a century has welcomed visitors to the park. And that for the past six months has welcomed visitors to this blog!

There’s something about this structure that always makes my heart leap up with joy every time I see it. First of all, it stands alone out in the middle of a meadow at the edge of both the park and the town of Gardiner, MT. Seeing it reminds me of when I was a kid and we would drive along the road near my grandmother’s house that led to the local amusement park. The moment we kids saw the top of the roller coaster over the trees, we’d all yell “Crescent Park!” Even if our actual destination that day was only the dry cleaners, just seeing the park brought back memories of great times past. And I feel the very same way now.

The other amazing thing is that even over the 11 years since I first saw the Arch, it’s actually changed significantly. When we came in 2014, the Roosevelt Arch was literally out in the middle of a field with a single-lane road running beneath it. These days, its status has been elevated; there’s a much more main artery that runs through it, so visitors pass through on their way in and out. A park has also been built in what used to be the field below it (Arch Park), and lots of public events are held there every summer, such as Shakespeare in the Park, Brewfest, and the Voices of Yellowstone First Peoples Celebration. Moreover, an aspect that is now an integral part of the arch–the side doors–were previously just boarded over (as you can see in the top photo). These days, you can drive through the main arch, or walk through the small side doors, within which you can look up into the bulwark of the arch.

The Roosevelt Arch was originally conceived by Hiram M. Chittenden, who was part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that designed many aspects of the park in the early 1900s, including the Grand Loop Road that leads visitors through the main villages and attractions of the park. But the actual designer of the arch remains a mystery. The arch was not originally intended to honor President Theodore Roosevelt–who did not discover Yellowstone, nor did he designate it as a national park (that honor belongs to President Ulysses S. Grant)–but was named after him because the president happened to be vacationing in Yellowstone during the arch’s construction and was asked to speak at the dedication ceremony in 1903. Roosevelt did many other things for the National Parks, such as creating many more designations during his tenure, but not at Yellowstone. This article describes other interesting tidbits about the history of the Roosevelt Arch, including the fact that the inscription on the arch: “For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People” was a phrase from the 1872 legislation that established Yellowstone as a national park. And, similar to the ethos of the park itself, the arch was intended to be purely decorative in nature. This was a novel idea for its time, as even the most ornate buildings were typically utilitarian in nature (form following function), and it took a while for people to understand that the land was not to be built upon or cultivated, the animals were not to be killed or even disturbed, and everything was intended to remain as close to nature as possible.

Another aspect of the park that continues to evolve is the relationship of Native Americans to the land itself. Originally, this land was home to a number of different tribes, including the Cheyenne, Shoshone, Bannock, Blackfeet, Crow and Nez Perce. However, with the creation of the National Park in 1872, many were forcibly removed by the U.S. Army, who propagated the myth that Native Americans were never here in the first place because they were afraid of the geysers. Can you imagine? There are 574 historic Native American tribes in the U.S., each with its own history, culture, land, and often language. And we eradicated them so completely that we believe that White settlers “discovered” the land. Over the last 30 years, though, formal efforts have been made by the National Park Service to welcome Native Americans back to the land and the annual First Peoples Celebration is part of this effort. A week-long celebration during the first week of August, this event opens with a tribal heritage ceremony involving speeches, singing, dancing and a drum circle, as well as lighting of ceremonial teepees that are constructed along the entrance road in Gardiner. Rob and I were fortunate to experience these ceremonies in Arch Park this week, along with a few of our friends, as documented in the photos that follow. Several speakers talked about how moving it was for them to be explicitly invited back to the land from which their ancestors were driven, and their songs, dances, and artwork were about friendship and inclusivity across cultures. May this park always remain for the Benefit and Enjoyment of ALL People.