Evening star. [volume], May 04, 1947, Page 12, Image 129

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
Page 12
hiP*
The Sunday Star Pictorial Magasine, May 4, 1947
99
for Sightseers: The Monument
Hazel Harrison and Betty Searsboth, from Oklahoma City, Okla., check landmarks on a-map at a window.
By CASPAR NANNES
VISITORS TO THE CAPITAL soon
learn that the best place from
which to gain an over-all picture of
the city le the top of the Washington
Monument.
On busy week ends, between 5,000
and 8,000 persons look down on the
buildings, parks, bridges and water
ways comprising the topographical
setting of the District area from the
windows of the 555-foot-5Vi-inch ob
elisk. More than 21,000,000 visitors
entered the monument between its
opening in October. 1888, and January
of this year.
The shaft was proposed as a memo
rial to Oeorge Washington in 1783, but
Congress took no action. In 1833,
a group of District residents or
ganized the Washington National
t Monument Society to build "a great
I national monument to the memory of
Washington at the seat of the Federal
Government." Chief Justice John
Marshall was the first president ôf the
organization.
A design submitted by Robert Mills,
the architect, was selected in 1847,
after $70,000 had been raised by popu
lar subscription. It was greatly re
vised, however, before the cornerstone
was laid, with elaborate Masonic cere
monies, on July 4, 1848.
First, a political quarrel, then the
Civil War halted work on the project,
which stood incomplete at 153 feet un
til 1880, when work was resumed.
The morning the shaft reached 160
feet, September 23. 1880, men coming
to work found a cat at its top. The
animal leaped to the ground and,
dazed, was killed by a dog. Its body is
now preserved in the Smithsonian
Institution.
The capstone marking completipn
of the monument was set December
6, 1884, and President Arthur attended
the dedication ceremonies the follow
ing February 21. The obelisk was not
opened to the public, however, until
more than three years later.
During the next two decades three
baseball players, Jack O'Connor of
Cleveland, Billy Shriver of Chicago
and Gabby Street of Washington, dis
tinguished themselves by catching
balls dropped from the top of the
shaft. On June 7,1941, Pitcher Walter
Johnson threw several soft balls, at
tached to parachutes, out of the east
window. A 16-year-old boy from
Rock wood, Mich., made the only catch.
President Truman was the first
Chief Executive to go to the top of the
Monument. He visited it on January
14, 1946. President Coolldge placed
a wreath at Its base on February 22,
1927
The first elevator In the obelisk was
run by steam. In 1900, the first
electric elevator was put In, the pres
ent one replacing It In 1926. The
ascent takes 70 seconds. Persons who
prefer to climb the 898 steps usually
take 20 minutes to reach the top.
Several persons have raced up the
steps in seven minutes.
The elevator runs every 10 minutes
on slack days and every five minutes
on busy ones. Emergency landings,
built in 1938, are available every 10
feet if the elevator should get stuck.
Use of the elevator was free until
June 2. 1942, when it was decided
tu make the memorial self-sustaining
by charging 10 cents a round trip for
all persons over 16.
As the elevator nears the top, a
recording gives the passenger a brief
history of the memorial. Coming
down, it adds other items of informa
tion.
Twelve full-time employes take care
of the monument: Charles L. Herman,
custodian; John H. Bushong, assistant
1·£
&
custodian; eight guards, an eli
operator and a janitor.
There are two windows on
of the four sides at the top c
memorial. An illustrated map,
ting important buildings and
points of interest, is above each
ing. On a clear day, visitors ct
the Blue Ridge Mountains 60
away. Iron bars were placed c
windows in 1928, after several pi
had attempted to jump out.