2-888-060 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Washington National Monument, at Washington City, 1850. Plan proposed by Robert Mills. '...an obelisk...intended to be six hundred feet high! This will exceed...any steeple or monument in the world...The top of this noble monument is to be reached by flights of iron steps...the circular structure...is intended to serve as the mausoleum of the illustrious dead...This desire to pay honour to the father of his country is universal, and has extended even to the Indian. The Chocktaw nation...are preparing a stone with suitable inscription...There are some persons...admitted to be possessed of both taste and knowledge in architecture, who disapprove of the plan, and say that the old Egyptian massy work, of 100 feet altitude, should support a shaft that resembled else than an immense chimney or stack to an American factory'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.