The History of the Washington Monument

Even before the death of our first President, American citizens and politicians had been talking about erecting a monument to honor General George Washington. In 1833, the 100th anniversary of Washington's birth, the Washington National Monument Society was formed. It was this group of private citizens who first began work on the Washington Monument in 1833. It was not until 1888 that the structure was completed, however, due to a number of unintended setbacks and funding problems.

Soon, the Washington National Monument Society had raised $28,000 in donations and in 1836, they held a competition for designs. The winner, Robert Mills, drew up plans for a massive Greek obelisk surrounded by a Greek colonnade. The colonnade itself was supposed to be pantheon featuring statues of 30 prominent American heros. On top of the colonnade, Mills envisaged a statue of Washington wearing a toga in a Roman chariot. It was estimated that the monument would cost $1,000,000 (about $27,000,000 today), and many of the members were not thrilled about the colonnade. Nevertheless, they decided to begin building the obelisk in the hopes of raising additional funds from patriotic Americans who would be more willing to give once they saw some progress being made on the monument. If they raised enough money for the colonnade, they might build it too.