Two original captions: "Jefferson Barracks, showing the old Guard House. Besides many other incidents, amusing and tragic, the old Guard House was the genesis of the new Jefferson Barracks. Spurred by reports of low morale in the Army during its longest period of peace from 1865 to 1898, a St. Louis newspaper reporter enlisted, was assigned to the barracks, deserted, and kept his newspaper columns hot with the insides story of Army life. Besides a slight upping of allowances and promise of other reforms, the War Department inaugurated a rebuilding of Jefferson Barracks where the controversy was centered and within a decade had razed the historic quadrangle of limestone and substituted a new post of pressed brick." "The old guard house was the genesis of the "new" Jefferson Barracks of the 1900s. Spurred by stories of low morale at the Barracks, a reporter enlisted in the 1890s and then deserted. The natural course of events followed and soon his newspaper was publishing the inside story of the army life. Before long soldiers' pay was upped and many structures were rebuilt. The Spanish-American War further emphasized the need for modernization and by 1905 all but one of the old buildings had been replaced."