Washington Monument
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Washington Monument. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
an obelisk erected in honor of George Washington in the city of Washington, D. C. It is a shaft of masonry 55 feet square at the base and 34 feet at the top. It is surmounted by a pyramidal top. The monument is in all 555 feet high, the loftiest work of masonry in the world. It incloses a square space or shaft. The walls are fifteen feet thick at the base and eighteen inches thick at the summit of the shaft. The outside facing is of white marble from Maryland. The interior backing is of gneiss and New England granite. The interior is lighted by electricity. Visitors may climb an inside stairway of 900 steps, if they prefer; but an elevator with a capacity of thirty passengers carries sightseers up and down the interior, stopping at several platforms. The interior is faced with memorial stones contributed by forty different states, sixteen cities, and numerous organizations, as the Masons and Odd Fellows . Americans residing in China begged the privilege of contributing a stone. There are stones, all properly inscribed, from Braddock's Field, the battlefield of Long Island , from the loftiest peak in Washington's native state, from the ruins of ancient Carthage, from Vesuvius, from the Isle of Paros, and from the tomb of Napoleon at St. Helena. Greece sent a stone from the precious Parthenon, Switzerland a stone from the chapel of William Tell. Even far away Japan sent her tribute. At a height of 504 feet the walls are pierced by eight openings, two on a side, from which an extensive view may be had of the city with its parks, statues, and public buildings, the White House, the Capitol, the Potomac, Arlington, and, far to the west, the misty Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. The project of a national monument in honor of the first president was set on foot during Washington's lifetime. The raising of funds by subscription began in 1833. The cornerstone was laid in 1848. In 1855 the funds for the obelisk ran low, and the work was abandoned at a height of 152 feet. In 1878, after the Civil War, Congress took over the work. The monument was finished in 1885 at a total cost of $1,300,000. Unlike some public works, it may be said that this monument is worthy of the people, the place, and the subject. A tall shaft of pure white, it may be seen long before the traveler can see any other sign of the city.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a magnificent monument erected by the American people in honor of George Washington. It stands in the Mall, a public park on the banks of the Potomac and Tiber creek, Washington, D. C. The corner stone was laid by President Polk, July 4, 1848, and Dec. 6, 1884, the cap stone was set in position. The foundations are 12612 feet square and 36 feet 8 inches deep. The base of the monument is 55 feet 1½ inches square, and the walls 15 feet 1/4 inch thick. At the lal top 500 foot mark, where the pyramidal top begins, the shaft is 34 feet 5½ inches square and the walls are 18 inches thick. The monument is made of blocks of marble two feet thick, and it is said there are over 18,000 of them. The height above the ground is 555 feet. The pyramidal top terminates in an aluminum tip, which is 9 inches high and weighs 100 ounces. The mean pressure of the monument is 5 tons per square foot, and the total weight, foundation and all, is nearly 81,000 tons. The door at the base, facing the capitol, is 8 feet wide and 16 feet high, and enters a room 25 feet square. An immense iron framework supports the machinery of the elevator, which is hoisted with steel wire ropes two inches thick. At one side begin the stairs, of which there are 50 flights, containing 18 steps each. Five hundred and twenty feet from the base there are eight windows, 18x24 inches, two on each face. The area at the base of the pyramidal top is 1,1874 feet, space enough for a six-room house, each room to be 12x16 feet. The Cologne Cathedral is 525 feet high; the pyramid of Cheops, 486; Strassburg Cathedral, 474; St. Peter's at Rome, 448; the capi' tol at Washington, 306, and Bunker Hill monument, 221 feet. The Washington monument is the highest monument in the world; total cost, $1,187,710.31.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The obelisk still stands as both accounts describe it, and Aiton's 1910 boast that it is "the loftiest work of masonry in the world" holds: it remains the tallest stone structure and tallest obelisk anywhere. Two things have moved. Visitors can no longer take the 900 steps Aiton's offered as an alternative to the elevator o for safety in the 1970s, so everyone now rides. And on 23 August 2011 a magnitude 5.8 earthquake centred in Virginia cracked the marble near the top and shook stones loose, closing the monument until 2014; a further shutdown for elevator and security work kept it closed from 2016 to 2019. A 2015 resurvey put the height at just under 555 feet rather than the round figure both entries give.
Written for this edition, 2026.