05 Feb 2018

History:

Lost Capitol Hill: The Washington Monument Cornerstone

Readers of my posts will remember that the workers at the Navy Yard are not always focused on just Navy work, but occasionally stray into other fields of endeavor. One of those relates to one of Washington’s most iconic monuments.

On June 6, 1848, the work on the foundation of the Washington Monument had proceeded far enough that it was time to bring in the cornerstone. The laying thereof would show that the work –ongoing for many years at this point– was actually producing something. There was just one problem: The size and weight of the cornerstone was going to make moving it through D.C. difficult. To this effect, a short piece ran in the Daily Union:

The building committee of the National Washington Monument have made the necessary preparations and will remove the corner stone from the railroad depot to the site of the monument, south of the Tiber, on this evening, at 4 o’clock. The procession will pass up Pennsylvania avenue and cross 14th street bridge. Those of our fellow-citizens who may be disposed to assist in the transportation of this heavy block if marble, will be pleased to attend at the time and place indicated.

The 14th Street bridge is not the crossing of the Potomac we know today, but a short bridge crossing the canal at what is today 14th and Constitution Avenue NW. At the anointed time, a large crowd turned out, but unfortunately, things did not work out as hoped. The Evening Star of February 21, 1885 takes up the story:

On the 6th of June 1848, as the large block of marble which was set as the corner-stone of the Washington monument was being hauled to the foundation, the truck bearing the stone broke through the 14th-street bridge over the canal. This fact becoming known at the navy yard, at the noon hour the workmen offered their services to get the stone out. This movement was seconded by the officers of the yard, and Gen. Henderson, [pictured] of the Marine corps, detailing field music, marshaled the line up Pennsylvania avenue to 14th street, where the truck lay in the mud.

The Navy Yard workers did their part and the Weekly National Intelligencer wrote a few days later

The corner-stone of the Washington Monument being yesterday afternoon raised without accident from the fourteenth street bridge, was afterwards safely transported to the site of the National Monument.

A little less than a month later, on the 4th of July, the cornerstone was officially set, with all the pomp and dignitaries one would expect. The stone had a hole that was filled with a zinc case containing memorabilia. Unfortunately, when work was restarted in 1879, a new foundation was built around the lowest rows of stone, including the cornerstone, and it is unclear if it is still there, or was removed at that time.

Laying the cornerstone of the Washington Monument on July 4, 1848 (LOC)

That, however, was all not the fault of the Navy Yard workers who downed their tools to ensure that it was in the right place at the right time.

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