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Episode 1

The Washington Monument That Almost Wasn't

20 min 14 sec

An unfinished monument surrounded by cows, a stolen stone, and two earlier monuments in Maryland. Which Washington Monument came first?

Episode Summary

When Hazel picked the Washington Monument, Caleb expected to find one story. Instead, he found three. And the famous white obelisk in Washington, D.C., wasn't the first.

The D.C. monument began with an extravagant design, then ran out of money and stood unfinished for decades. A stone donated by the Pope was stolen amid political conflict. During the Civil War, the grounds became a cattle yard. When construction finally resumed, the new marble didn't quite match the old. And the tiny aluminum tip that completed the monument took an unexpected detour through a New York jewelry store.

But Maryland had already begun two Washington Monuments of its own. In Baltimore, a marble statue honors Washington for giving up command of the army. On South Mountain, neighbors from Boonsboro gathered local rocks to build a monument themselves, only for later generations to face the challenge of keeping it standing.

Baltimore started first. Boonsboro finished first. And D.C. built the tallest.

Interesting Discoveries

  • During the Civil War, cattle were kept on the grounds around D.C.'s unfinished Washington Monument. An 1862 cartoon mocked it as the "Beef Depot Monument."
  • In 1854, a commemorative stone donated by Pope Pius IX was stolen amid anti-Catholic agitation. One account says it was thrown into the Potomac River, but its fate remains uncertain.
  • The D.C. monument's aluminum tip weighed 100 ounces. In 1884, aluminum was rare enough that its maker displayed the tip at Tiffany's in New York without permission, delaying delivery to Washington.
  • Baltimore's monument depicts Washington holding out his military commission as he resigned command of the Continental Army in 1783, rather than celebrating a battlefield victory.
  • Boonsboro residents built about half their stone tower on July 4, 1827, then returned in September to finish it. After repeated deterioration and damage, the monument was rebuilt in the 1930s.

Sources and Further Reading