What Are Some Facts About the Washington Monument?

The Washington Monument's obelisk is 555 feet, 5 1/8 inches tall and that makes it not only the tallest obelisk but the tallest free-standing stone structure in the world.  It was patterned after ancient obelisks from Egypt. 

The Washington Monument is located in the National Mall in Washington, DC.  It was built to honor our first president and has 50 flags of all the states surrounding the base.  There was an elevator installed in 1998.

First, let’s look at the specific facts about the dimensions of the Washington Monument:

• Its height in metres is 169.294 and the width of its base is 55 ft 1½ inches or 16.802 metres. 
• The thickness of the walls is 15 feet or 4.6 metres at the base and 18 inches or 46 cm on the observation level. 
• Each side of the base of the capstone is 3 feet or 91 cm and its height is 5.16 feet or 1.57 metres. 
• The aluminum tip is 8.9 inches or 23 cm high.

Here are the facts about the various weights of the Washington Monument:

• The entire monument is 90,854 tons or 82,421 tonnes. 
• The capstone is 3,300 pounds or 1.5 tonnes and the weight of the tip is 100 oz or 2.85 kg. 
• The weight of the foundation is 36,912 tons or 33,486 tonnes and its area is 16,001 square feet or 1,486.5 square metres. 
• The depth of the foundation is 36 feet 10 inches or 11.23 meters. 
• The number of steps in the stairwell is 897. 

Construction

There are also many interesting facts about the Washington Monument's construction:

• It was started in 1848 and the exterior was made of white marble. 
• The commemorative stones are made of marble, granite, soapstone, sandstone, jade, and limestone. 
• The tip was fashioned from aluminum by William Frishmuth. 
• The monument cost $1,187,710 and was completed in 1884.
• In 1833, a group of people formed the Washington National Monument Society dedicated to building a fitting memorial to the first president. 
• They asked for proposals and the neoclassical design of Robert Mills was chosen. 
• It was designed to have an obelisk and a Greek temple with statues of Washington driving a chariot drawn by Arabian horses. 
• Because of the costs involved, only the obelisk was built.
• The cornerstone included a time capsule that had in it money, newspapers, information about Washington, DC, a Bible, and information on the Washington family.   
• Construction was stopped in 1884 due to lack of funds and Congress approved funds for it to continue. 
• It was finished in 1884 and dedicated in 1885. 
• At that time, it was the world’s tallest building.     
• Since the Washington Monument is in fact an obelisk, you may be wondering what an obelisk is.  To be an obelisk, a structure has to be tall, narrow, have four sides, and it needs to taper to the top into a pyramid shape.  It is said to look like a ray of the sun.  Most ancient ones were solid and most modern ones are made of several stones and have interior spaces.

George Washington

You might wonder why Washington was picked for this memorial.  One reason is he was one of the founding fathers of our country and its first president.   He was a delegate to the First Continental Congress and the commander in chief of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.  He was president of the Constitutional Convention in 1787 and president of the country from 1789 to 1797.   This was said about Washington after his death, "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen."