Grand Army of the Republic Hall in Aurora, Illinois, was conceived in 1869 as a memorial and public resource honoring Union veterans of the U.S. Civil War. Built on neutral ground on Stolp Island, it also served for years as Aurora’s only public library and as the meeting place of Aurora G.A.R. Post No. 20 until 1947. Designed by Joseph Mulvey, the locally quarried limestone building is notable for its octagonal form and Gothic Revival style. It narrowly escaped demolition in the 1960s, was later restored, and reopened to the public in 2016 as the Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Museum.