The Highest Monument in the World

The monument erected in the city of Washington, D.C., to the memory of George Washington, first President of the United States, is the highest in the world.

Soon after the death of Washington, Congress recognized the propriety of erecting a monument to his memory, and passed resolutions to that effect; but no funds were appropriated, and for years no further steps were taken.

In the year 1833 the National Washington Monument Society was formed, to take the matter in hand. The plan adopted by the founders was to unite the efforts of the people of the whole country to erect a suitable monument to President Washington. At first, contributions were limited to a dollar annually from any one person, contributors to become members of the society. In 1836 advertisements were published, inviting designs from American artists, the cost of the monument being estimated at $1,000,000. The award was given to Robert Mills, the architect of the Interior Department.

In January, 1848, Congress granted to the society a site for the monument, to be chosen in any of the unoccupied public grounds; and the spot chosen is one that affords a fine view of it from both land and water, and overlooks Washington, Georgetown, Alexandria, Arlington, and Mount Vernon.

The corner-stone was laid by President Polk, July 4, 1848; and the work was then pushed until, in 1854, the shaft reached the height of 150 feet.

Not long after this the funds of the society gave out, and a memorial was presented to Congress asking for assistance from that body; but no visible results were obtained until 1876, when the sum of $200,000 was appropriated, payable in annual instalments of $50,000 each. The work was pushed with all possible rapidity to completion, and was dedicated Feb. 21, 1885 (the anniversary of Washington's birth, the 22d, falling on Sunday).

The monument, as it stands to-day, differs materially from the original plan. There is no colonnade, but only the mound of earth covering the foundations; and the marble shaft rises, in the dignity of unadorned simplicity, 555 feet in the air. The base of the shaft is 55 feet square; and it tapers gradually, until, at the 500 foot point, it is 34 feet 5 1/2 inches square. Here the pyramidal top begins, and is run to an apex 55 feet above the square masonry. The size of the well of the shaft is twenty-five feet to the height of 150 feet, when it increases to 31 feet 5 1/2 inches, and continues so to the top.

The marble used for the completion of the monument came, for the most part, from Maryland quarries: it is said to contain eighteen thousand blocks of marble two feet thick.

The work was very simple until the last courses for the apex were reached. It consisted in laying blocks of marble for the outside, and granite for the inside, each block being two feet in height. The exterior surface of the blocks has an upward slant of an inch for each course, giving a decrease of one foot in the width of each of the four sides of the monument in every twenty-four of the rise.

The stones were lifted on an elevator run by steam, suspended in an interior framework of iron, that was built up at intervals, thirty or forty feet at a time, in advance of the surrounding masonry.

When the five hundred and fifty feet level was reached, and it became impossible to carry the iron framework for the elevator any higher, a skeleton structure was built to support the slanting marble sides of the apex. These stones were lifted into place by means of a windlass set at the point to be finally occupied by the capstone. A platform was built out from the doorway on the east side of the five hundred and fifty feet level, and the stones were run out upon this platform, and then hoisted. When all but the last nine had been set, a temporary platform of wood was built around the apex, and the nine stones were hoisted upon this platform. Then the windlass was taken down, and four masts set up for use in laying the last stones. The pyramidal top terminates in an aluminum tip, which is nine inches high, and weighs a hundred ounces. The capstone was set in position Dec. 6, 1884, just thirty-six and a half years after the laying of the corner-stone.

The door at the base, facing the Capitol, is eight feet wide, and sixteen feet high, and enters a room twenty-five feet square. At one side begin the stairs, of which there are fifty flights, containing eighteen steps each.

Five hundred and twenty feet from the base, there are eight windows, 18 X 24 inches, two on each face. The area at the base of the pyramidal top is 1,187 1/4 feet,--space enough for a six-room house, each room to be 12 X 16 feet. Externally the monument is complete, but it will take two years to complete the interior. When done, the total cost will amount to $1,500,000.