It took a lot of years before the obelisk we know as Washington's Monument became a reality. Along the way were several other memorials.

Although Washington has several monuments dedicated to him, it is the white marble obelisk in Washington D.C. that most people think about when you say, ‘Washington’s Monument.’

There were several federal attempts at memorializing George Washington. The first started after his death in 1799 when Congress decided to provide a mausoleum under the Capitol Rotunda. The politicians were disappointed when John Augustine Washington, George’s grandnephew refused to move the Washington’s remains.

Congress then authorized $5,000 for a marble statue. Horatio Greenough, an American Scupturer living in Italy won the commission. The statue became controversial after its unveiling in 1841 because it depicted Washington sitting in a bare chested pose with a toga over his arms. Shortly thereafter the 20-ton statue was moved from it’s planned home on the Rotunda floor to somewhere on the capitol grounds. In 1908 it found a new home in one of the exhibit halls at the Smithsonian Institute bringing it in out of the weather.

While the statue was being created, a group of prominent citizens in Washington City, lead by George Watterston, gathered together to form the Washington National Monument Society. John Marshall, a friend of George Washington, became the first president of the society. The group asked President Andrew Jackson to be the honorary president of the society. This is a custom that continues to this day with President George W. Bush, Jr.

Since they wanted the monument to be from the people they did a national fundraiser. They also limited contributions to one dollar per person per year. This is how the society managed to collect $28,000 by 1836.

In addition to his other commissions in the city, Robert Mills, an architect-engineer, won the commission. The original design was a Classic Greek Temple with an Egyptian style obelisk growing from the the center. What the society wanted and could afford was only the obelisk. The society had enough money to start building and laid the cornerstone at a ceremony on the 4th of July 1848. It included all the pomp & circumstances such an occasion would call for incuding a live American Eagle, chained to one of the arches, representing the country. Speaker of the house Robert C. Winthrop gave the main address; then the city’s Masonic Lodge consecrated the corner stone. The event concluded in the evening with fireworks.

The building proceeded at a consistent pace when the Society removed the donation limits and asked other organizations, states and countries to contribute stone blocks for the inside of the memorial.

A hostile take-over of the Society in 1855 caused the donations to slow down to a trickle. By the time the take-over ended in 1858 the donations from other sources had come to a complete halt. This caused the Monument to become an unfinished eyesore with animals grazing at its base and soldiers drilling nearby during the civil war. Mark Twain in 1867 wrote, “It has the aspect of a factory chimney with the top broken off. ...”

Still incomplete in 1876, Congress decided to take over the project causing the Society to cede the land and the Monument to the country. However, they were made a semi-official adviory body that still fuctions to this day.

The Army Corp of Engineers immediately set to work. They were advised that a true obelisk was ten times the base width. The height of the Monument was adjusted accordingly. Laying a second cornerston in 1880 the work was finally completed on 6 Dec 1884 when the aluminum capstone was set in place with a formal ceremony.

The Monument was dedicated on Washington’s birthday in 1885. President Chester Arthur gave a speech at the Monument. Then the proceeding were moved to the Capitol Building where Massachusetts Rep John D. Long presented Robert Winthrop’s speech. Since the inside work still needed to be complete, the Monument wasn’t opened to the public until 1888.

The Monument, elegant in its simple and stately manner is a fitting memorial to a man who prefered to be the ‘father of our country’ instead of its king.
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© 2003 Gayle Garrod