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The obelisk
It was the world's tallest structure between 1884 and 1889
The Washington Monument is a 555-foot obelisk on the National Mall, built to commemorate George Washington. The Eiffel Tower overtook it as the tallest structure in the world after 1889.
555-footobelisk of granite and white marble
The design
Robert Mills designed a colonnade, but the money ran out
Construction began in 1848, and the Freemasons laid the cornerstone on July 4, 1848. The original design was by Robert Mills of South Carolina. His proposed colonnade was left out for lack of funds, and a bare obelisk was built instead.
A gift stone
A memorial stone from Pope Pius IX was destroyed in 1854
The stone, called the Pope's Stone, was destroyed by members of the anti-Catholic American Party, the Know-Nothings, on March 6, 1854. A priest replaced it in 1982 with the Latin phrase A Roma Americae.
Two shades
Work stopped from 1854 to 1877, and the marble changed shade
Construction was suspended from 1854 to 1877 because of funding challenges, a struggle for control of the society and the Civil War. Work resumed in 1879. The bottom third is a slightly lighter shade because the marble came from different quarries.
Opening
It was dedicated in 1885 and opened to the public in 1888
The stone structure was completed in 1884, and the monument was dedicated on February 21, 1885. Fifty U.S. flags fly on a circle of poles around it. After the 2011 Virginia earthquake it was closed for repairs until 2014.
Day 1, midday
It comes after Lincoln Memorial and the Reflecting Pool. Then Jefferson Memorial and the Tidal Basin.
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The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Washington Monument, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.