Federal Officials Offer Plan to Refurbish, Protect Grant’s Tomb

After months of bad press and an attempt by Illinois to take the monument away, the National Park Service unveiled a plan Wednesday to refurbish and revitalize the beleaguered Grant’s Tomb.

The upper Manhattan burial site of Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th President, has long been a target for vandals, graffiti artists and homeless people seeking shelter, and attendance has dwindled.

The proposal, which needs congressional approval, would provide $400,000 for the current fiscal year and $450,000 next year. The current operating budget including salaries, maintenance and operating costs is $323,000.

The announcement came on the 172nd anniversary of Grant’s birth and the tomb’s 97th anniversary.

To ensure that the Park Service follows through, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said he will introduce legislation today calling for an independent assessment of the site’s problems.

In recent years, the site was only staffed during business hours. It will now be staffed seven days a week, and nighttime security will soon be in place, Park Service regional director Marie Rust said.

The moves come in the wake of stories detailing deteriorating conditions at the tomb where Grant and his wife, Julia, are buried.

On Monday, descendants and admirers of Grant sued the federal government to restore the monument.

The problems had persuaded the Illinois Legislature to propose moving the bodies to Galena, Ill., Grant’s adopted hometown.