Tourist Desitinations - Washington Monument

The Washington Monument was one of the cities first major attractions and is arguably the popular monument inside the city of Washington D.C.. It is definitely the most distinctive it stands and 555 feet tall and lets its visitors see for upwards of 30 miles from the observation floor. The monument was made built in remembrance of the country's first President George Washington and completed in the year 1884.
The History of the monument is filled with a number of interesting facts. The first is it took 36 years to finish, due to lack of funding because of the civil war. When the nation came back to finish the monument after the war the marble they were using for the exterior was pulled from a different quarry, the two sections closely resembled each other at the time but after years have passed they different stones have weathered differently causing the naked eye to see different colors. (which can bee seen in the picture above about 1/3 of the way up) The stairwells which are no longer used to get to the top of the structure are lined with 199 commemorative stones that were given as gifts, most by states and other countries.

Even before it was opened the Washington Monument drew large groups in the 6 months after it opened it drew over 10,000 people all who had to climb the 900 steps to the top. The original elevator installed took 20 minutes to get to the top, today it takes 70 seconds. Today the monument continues to draw crowds more than any other place in D.C. as it sees 800,000 visitors each year and is one of the National Parks Service 7 Icon Washington D.C. Memorials

Source: National Parks Service http://www.nps.gov/