LITTLE ROCK — Washington, D.C., is a city of grand monuments, but none more so than the obelisk in memory of America's first president, George Washington. Standing 555 feet high, the monument is a beautiful and imposing sight. Arkansans contributed both much needed money and memorial stones to the building of the monument.
Talk of a national memorial to Washington began soon after his death in December 1799, but nothing concrete developed until a group of citizens created the Washington National Monument Society in 1833. It was assumed that a memorial to the Father of the Country would be quickly realized. Donations were limited to $1 per person to emphasize the democratic nature of the project, no doubt hurting fundraising. Robert Mills, a Washington architect, won the design competition. His plan was radically different from the finished structure.
Mills described his design as a "grand circular colonnaded building . . . 100 feet high, from which springs an obelisk shaft . . . making a total elevation of 600 feet." Mills' design had every appearance of a Roman temple, a classical expression still popular in the 1830s-including a 30-foot statue of Washington clad in a Roman toga.
Finally, on Independence Day, 1848, the 24,500-pound cornerstone was laid with the same trowel Washingtonused to lay the cornerstone of the Capitol building. Marble was chosen over sandstone as the building material.
Fundraising was a challenge from the beginning. Postmasters became collecting agents for the monument campaign. Schoolchildren were called upon to contribute to the effort, raising $40,000. Fraternal orders, such as the Masons, were called upon to contribute. Mount Moriah Lodge in Union County contributed $63 to the monument.
In May, 1850, Q. K. Underwood of Helena ran a large advertisement in the local newspaper announcing his appointment as regional fundraiser for the monument in 11 East Arkansas counties. The city of Little Rock contributed $50 to the effort-which made the editor of the Arkansas Gazette proud even if he had to learn about it from a New Orleans newspaper. Starting in 1852, donation boxes were placed at polling stations in Little Rock for three years-about $50 being contributed per election.
Arkansans responded eagerly when called upon to contribute a memorial stone for display inside the monument. Peter Beller, who livednear remote Marble Falls in modern Newton County, led a team in quarrying a 2,000-pound block of red marble. As prescribed by the Monument Society, the stone was four feet by two feet, and 18 inches thick. It was hauled by sled across miles of rugged terrain to Van Buren on the Arkansas River, where it was shipped by steamboat to Washington. Beller later received $50 from the state legislature for his arduous work.
The stone is inscribed with the name "Arkansas" in bold but simple capital letters. U.S. Senator Solon Borland pledged to "have it finished and will have cut upon it the coat ofarms of Arkansas." While Arkansas did not have a coat of arms, it did have a state seal-yet the stone bears only the single name. Contributed in 1851, the granite memorial stone from the city of Little Rock is also plain but attractive, bearing only the words "Little Rock, Arkansas." The Masonic Lodge of Arkansas donated a stone bearing a brass plate cast for the occasion.
Interestingly, the stone contributed by Roman Catholic Pope Pius IX wasstolen and never found. It was the work of the nascent American Party, known as the Know-Nothings. This virulent anti-immigrant group not only stole the Pope's stone, they staged a coup in 1855 by taking control of the Monument Society board of directors. For three years the Know-Nothings held sway, and were said to have used lower grade stone to build 26 feet of the shaft.
Progress on the structure came to a halt as the Civil War approached, and for twenty years it stood abandoned, like a giant tree cut off at a height of 178 feet. The national centennial of 1876 sparked a federal appropriation for the monument, and eventually it gained ownership of the structure. Completed December 6, 1884, the monument was dedicated the following February with Governor Simon P. Hughes leading the Arkansas delegation. Even today, it is evident to the naked eye where the post-war construction began-the older portion appearing darker.
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Tom Dillard heads the Special Collections Department at the University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville. Email him at [email protected].
Editorial, Pages 88 on 09/27/2009