Update: Listen HERE for NPR’s coverage of the damage to the Washington Monument as Michele Norris and Melissa Block interviews members of the Park Service.
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After last month’s earthquake hit the DC metro area, locals and visitors alike were saddened by the damage to major landmarks in the capitol city. The Washington National Monument, a highly recognizable symbol in the skyline of DC since construction began in 1848, was damaged during the earthquake and is now closed to visitors pending repairs. While experts consider the best way to repair the famous obelisk, we can look back on the process of building the monument.
Earthquake damage to the observation deck of the Monument. August 2011.
ProQuest History Vault gives a rare insight into the process around the creation of this national landmark. The John McDonogh papers contain letters and printed advertisements from the Washington National Monument Society. In 1848-1849, John McDonogh and Elisha Whittlesey corresponded extensively on the Washington Monument project. Whittlesey attempted to raise funds for the completion of the project. McDonogh, a wealthy landowner, donated money towards the project.
Included in this collection are mass mailings sent to potential and previous donors, updating them on the progress of the monument’s construction. After the cornerstone was laid on July 4th, 1848, Whittlesey sent out a flyer detailing the ceremony and the initial progress of the monument. The following year he sent another flyer updating donors on the progress of the monument. Of course, he included the obligatory pleas for more money, stating that “to give an opportunity to our grateful and patriotic citizens to contribute towards this National work, the Board of Managers wish to employs agents in every county, or congressional district in the United States.”
The incomplete Monument as it looked during the Civil War. c.1860.
The Washington Monument may have started in the 1848, but it wasn’t completed for over thirty years. And only the obelisk was completed. The original plans called for a Parthenon style temple as part of the monument complex. However, Whittlesey’s efforts to raise funds, demonstrated so clearly in this collection, were never as successful as he hoped. Lack of funds and the outbreak of the Civil War delayed construction considerably. The picture above shows the monument as it looked throughout the 1860s. The capstone was finally laid on December 6, 1884 and the monument was dedicated the following year. At the time, it was the tallest structure in the world.
The Monument as it looks today.
For more information on the monument and updates on the repairs, please go to the National Parks Service page for the Washington National Monument.
Images via Wikimedia Commons and Library of Congress.
