The Washington Monument was built between 1848 and 1884 as a memorial to George Washington, first President of the United States. Washington Monument weighted over 90,854 tons. The Monument was 555 feet tall. The Monument was composed of white marble. The walls of the monument range in thickness from 15' at the base to 18'' at the upper shaft. Plans for building the Washington Monument began as early as 1783 when Major Pierre Charles L'Enfant proposed to Congress that an equestrian statue of George Washington be erected. The Monument also has 50 American flags surrounding the Washington Monument representing out 50 states.In 1783 the Continental Congress recognized George Washington service and his unique role in the founding of the new republic and the people thought of many ways to honor him. They purpose an equestrian statue to be place where the congress shall be established. In December 1799, eight days after the death of George Washington, United States representatives John Marshall purpose that a marble monument is place in the capital and that George Washington body to be bury under it. No action was taken from john Marshall Proposal. Throughout the nation there was a deep sense of disappointment over the failure that the congress didn’t approve a monument to George Washington. After four years congress finally made a proposal for a memorial for the first president of the United States. They granted a 37 acre site for the Washington monument. The chosen site has an excellent view of the capital and fine grain white marble was to come from the quarry of Thomas Symington. Symington donated 24,500 pound of pure white marble for the corner stone and they haul it to Washington for free. On July 4, 1848 was the day they lay the corner stone of white marble. The construction of the monument began in the summer of 1848 and it cost $300,000 to build the monument. When the resources for building the monument was finish, appeal went out to other nation to contribute money for continuing the construction of the monument. The temple of concord in Rome contributes a Pope Pius IX and later it was stolen and was never found.
When the civil war started the monument stood at 176 foot high. After the war they estimated about $2,000,000 for the completion of the monument. On February 22, 1885 it was the day that the Washington monument was finish construction. The admission to the Washington monument is free of charge. The average wait in line is 20 min per 100 people.
The average movement of the lines is 25 people every 5 min and when the lines are around the monument the wait in line are between 45 min to an hour. The best time to visit the Washington monument is at night because the lines are short and the night view is spectacular especially in the summer time. The view from the top of the monument is very magnificent but in bad weather it is bad. Inside the monument there is a lift that takes you to the observatory at the top and it’s free. The lifts take about 1 minute to get to the top and you can see the city from all four sides. The Washington Monument is close right and will reopen in the spring of 2005 due to security enhancement.

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