December 6:

1884 : Washington Monument completed

On this day in 1884, in Washington, D.C., workers place a nine-inch
aluminum pyramid atop a tower of white marble, completing the
construction of an impressive monument to the city's namesake and the
nation's first president, George Washington.
As early as 1783, the infant U.S. Congress decided that a statue of
George Washington, the great Revolutionary War general, should be
placed near the site of the new Congressional building, wherever it
might be. After then-President Washington asked him to lay out a new
federal capital on the Potomac River in 1791, architect Pierre
L'Enfant left a place for the statue at the western end of the
sweeping National Mall (near the monument's present location).

It wasn't until 1832, however--33 years after Washington's death--that
anyone really did anything about the monument. That year, a private
Washington National Monument Society was formed. After holding a
design competition and choosing an elaborate Greek temple-like design
by architect Robert Mills, the society began a fundraising drive to
raise money for the statue's construction. These efforts--including
appeals to the nation's schoolchildren--raised some $230,000, far
short of the $1 million needed. Construction began anyway, on July 4,
1848, as representatives of the society laid the cornerstone of the
monument: a 24,500-pound block of pure white marble.

Six years later, with funds running low, construction was halted.
Around the time the Civil War began in 1861, author Mark Twain
described the unfinished monument as looking like a "hollow, oversized
chimney." No further progress was made until 1876--the centennial of
American independence--when President Ulysses S. Grant authorized
construction to be completed.

Made of some 36,000 blocks of marble and granite stacked 555 feet in
the air, the monument was the tallest structure in the world at the
time of its completion in December 1884. In the six months following
the dedication ceremony, over 10,000 people climbed the nearly 900
steps to the top of the Washington Monument. Today, an elevator makes
the trip far easier, and more than 800,000 people visit the monument
each year. A city law passed in 1910 restricted the height of new
buildings to ensure that the monument will remain the tallest
structure in Washington, D.C.--a fitting tribute to the man known as
the "Father of His Country."

history.com/tdih.do


1884 : Washington Monument completed
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihVideoCategory&id=52285

1907 : The Monongah coal mine disaster
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5576

1917 : The Great Halifax Explosion
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5577

1921 : Irish Free State declared
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=7103

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