History of the Washington National Monument and of the Washington National Monument Society

by Frederick L. Harvey

In 1847, the aggregate of collections and accumulated interest was some $87,000, which amount was deemed sufficient to justify the Society in beginning the erection of the Monument.

A resolution was adopted that the corner-stone be laid on the 22d of February next "provided that a suitable site can be obtained in time," and a committee was appointed to apply to Congress early in the session for a "site on the public mall for the Monument." A committee was also appointed to ascertain "the best terms on which a suitable site on private grounds within the limits of the City of Washington can be obtained."

Before the latter committee reported, in response to the memorial by the Society to Congress, desiring action by that body to accord a site for the Monument, on the 31st of January, 1848, Congress passed a resolution authorizing the Washington National Monument Society to erect "a Monument to the memory of George Washington upon such portion of the public grounds or reservations within the City of Washington, not otherwise occupied, as shall be selected by the President of the United States and the Board of Managers of said Society as a suitable site on which to erect the said Monument, and for the necessary protection thereof."

January 23, 1848, General Archibald Henderson, Lieut. M. F. Maury, and Mr. Walter Lenox were appointed a committee to make the necessary arrangements to lay the corner-stone, but it being found impossible to make arrangements for that ceremony on the 22d of February, on the 29th of January it was postponed until July 4th following.

SITE OF THE MONUMENT.

The site selected under the authority of the resolution of Congress was the public reservation, numbered 3, on the plan of the City of Washington, containing upwards of thirty acres, where the Monument now stands, near the Potomac river, west of the Capitol and south of the President's House. The deed was executed on the 12th day of April, 1849, and was duly recorded among the land records of the District of Columbia on the 22d day of February, 1849.

This deed was executed by James K. Polk, President of the United States, "and in testimony of the selection as aforesaid of the said reservation, numbered three (3), for the purpose aforesaid," was also signed by William Brent, First Vice-President; W. W. Seaton, Second Vice-President; Archibald Henderson, Third Vice-President; J. B. H. Smith, Treasurer; George Watterston, Secretary; and Peter Force; the signing being "in the presence of Winfield Scott, Nathan Towson, John. J. Abert, Walter Jones, Thomas Carbery, W. A. Bradley, P. R. Fendall, Thomas Munroe, Walter Lenox, M. F. Maury, Thomas Blagden."

As to the reasons for the selection of this particular site, we find them stated by the Society in an address to the country, in later years, as follows:

"The site selected presents a beautiful view of the Potomac; is so elevated that the Monument will be seen from all parts of the city and the surrounding country, and, being a public reservation, it is safe from any future obstruction of the view. It is so near the river that materials for constructing the Monument can be conveyed to it from the river at but little expense; stone, sand, and lime, all of the best kind, can be brought to it by water from convenient distances; and marble of the most beautiful quality, obtained at a distance of only eleven miles from Baltimore, on the Susquehanna railroad, can be brought either on the railroad or in vessels. In addition to these and kindred reasons, the adoption of the site was further and impressively recommended by the consideration that the Monument to be erected on it would be in full view of Mount Vernon, where rest the ashes of the Chief; and by evidence that Washington himself, whose unerring judgment had selected this city to be the Capital of the Nation, had also selected this particular spot for a Monument to the American Revolution, which in the year 1795 it was proposed should be erected or placed at the 'permanent seat of Government of the United States.' This Monument was to have been executed by Ceracchi, a Roman sculptor, and paid for by contributions of individuals. The same site is marked on Major L'Enfant's map of Washington City for the equestrian statue of General Washington, ordered by Congress in 1783, which map was examined, approved, and transmitted to Congress by him when President of the United States."