This Day in History: , The Washington
Monument
Is Completed.
December 6, 1884.
The Washington Monument
stood as the tallest man-made
structure in the world at the time.
A monument to honor
the nation's first president,
George Washington, had been
a focus of Congress since 1783.
The Washington Monument Society
began raising funds for the structure in 1832.
Though fundraising efforts had
fallen well short of the the $1 million
budget, construction of Robert Mills'
design began on July 4, 1848. .
Construction was
halted in the mid-
1850s and did not
begin again until 1876.
Once completed, the 555-foot-tall
monument utilized more than
35,000 marble and granite bricks.
Today, 800,000 people visit
the monument yearly