The Washington Monument was built between 1848 and 1884 as a
tribute to George Washington's military leadership from 1775-1783
during the American Revolution. Its construction took place in two
major phases, 1848-56, and 1876-84--a lack of funds, political
turmoil, and uncertainty about the survival of the American Union
caused the intermittent hiatus. Plans for a national monument began
as early as 1783 when Congress proposed that an equestrian statue
of George Washington be erected. Although the Monument was
authorized by Congress, little action was taken, even after Major
Peter Charles L'Enfant selected its site in his 1791 Federal City
plan. Washington's 1799 death rekindled public aspiration for an
appropriate tribute to him, and John Marshall proposed that a
special sepulcher be erected for the General within the Capitol
itself. Lack of funds postponed construction, but Marshall
persevered, and in 1833, he, James Madison, and others formed the
Washington National Monument Society. By 1836, the society
advertised for competitive architectural designs. The winning
architect was Robert Mills, whose design called for a neoclassical
plan which provided for a nearly-flat-topped obelisk surrounded by
a circular colonnade on which would stand a statue of Washington in
a chariot. Inside the colonnade, statues of thirty prominent
Revolutionary War heroes would be displayed. In an elaborate Fourth
of July ceremony in 1848, the cornerstone was laid. Lack of funds
and the illegal election which placed the Washington National
Monument Society in the hands of the Know-Nothings, a political
party, caused delay. Although the Know-Nothings returned all
records to the original society in 1858, the latter could
accomplish little without funding. The outbreak of Civil War of
1861 exacerbated the society's difficulties with fund-raising
efforts. When Lt.Col.Thomas L.Casey, Mills' successor, resumed work
on the project in 1876, he heavily altered the original design for
the monument so that it resembled an unadorned Egyptian obelisk
with a pointed pyramidion. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of the
War Department was charged with completing the construction, and
the monument was dedicated on February 21, 1885, and officially
opened to the public on October 9, 1888. Weighing 81,120 tons, the
Washington Monument stands 555' 5-1/8" tall. The walls of the
monument range in thickness from 15' at the base to 18'' at the
upper shaft. They are composed primarily of white marble blocks
from Maryland with a few from Massachusetts, underlain by Maryland
blue gneiss and Maine granite. A slight color change is perceptible
at the 150' level near where construction slowed in 1854. Inserted
into the interior walls are 193 memorial stones presented by
individuals, societies, cities, States, and nations of the world.
Attached to in independent iron framework, flights of 896 steps
surround an elevator which takes visitors to the observation level,
where they can gaze over the city from the monument's pyramidion
windows. In 1996, the Washington Monument Restoration Project was
kicked off with Target Stores joining the National Park Service and
the National Park Foundation to help restore this national
treasure. Guaranteeing $1 million, Target served as the lead
sponsor working with the foundation to raise awareness and an
additional $4 million in donations from corporate partners. The
restoration included constructing scaffolding for the entire
555-foot, 5 1/8-inch monument; sealing 500 feet of exterior and
interior stone cracks; pointing 64,000 linear feet of exterior
joints; cleaning 59,000 square feet of interior wall surface;
sealing eight observation windows and eight aircraft warning
lights; repairing 1,000 square feet of chipped and patched stone;
pointing 3,900 linear feet of interior joints; and preserving and
restoring 1932 interior commemorative stones. The project was
completed in 2000.