The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1941-02-20
GROWING
PAINS
Memorials to Washington
By MARIE O'DEA

near BoOnsboro.
In the first decade of the nine
teenth century there was considerable
agitation throughout the states to
erect memorials to Washington. Like
the weather, there was deal of talk
but nothing was done about it.
Baltimoreans, however, hit upon the
idea as a means to "kill two birds
with one stone" The old Court House
had been removed and the owners of
surrounding property became alarmed
as cheap building projects were being
suggested. They bore down upon the
State Legislature with a plea that
magnificent memorial to our first
President be erected on that spot and
proposed a decentralization
lar lottery to finance it. The Legisla-
ture passed the Act on January 6,
1910. A small prize was offered for
design
Robert Mills, a young architect in
Philadelphia, set to work at once. His
unbounded personal admiration for
President Washington led him to
choose a lofty motif, a high shaft or
column, and he finally selected the
classic Greek Doric style. He was, in
fact, the first architect to use a sin
gle Greek Doric column as a memoir
ial,
His drawings, despite the competi-
ton of other famous architects, were
accepted by the committee on May 2,
1914. He was asked to come to Balti-
more to take charge of the monu-
ment's construction, which he did.
Meanwhile, the very citizens who
had wanted the monument ii the old
Court House site now became alarmed
at the possibility of such high col
umn falling down upon their build
ings. Perhaps it was the war, with
British depredations at their very
doors, that gave them the filters.
-Four months after Mills was sum-
moned to Baltimore the British fleet
was in the Patapsco river. On Sep
TENDER u, 10 and IA, Baltimoreans
had to defend their town from land
attack at North Point and sea attack
at Fort McHenry Many lives We're
lost in these two battles and it was
but natural that the suggestion of a
memorial to them was soon forthcom-
ing. The neighbors of the Court House
site seized upon this new idea as the
solution. The Battle Monument, a
much lower monument, was selected
and the Washington Monument left,
almost literally, hanging in mid-air.
In the end, John Eager Howard,
who owned large estate north of the
city, provided a small tract of land
atop hill on his own property at
rental of $40 per year This sum was
to provide pasturage in another loca-
ton for his cow. (Some years later
his descendants decided this property
to the city,
On July 4, 1915, the cornerstone of
the Washington Monument was laid
amid colorful Masonic ceremonies.
twenty-five thousand pesons gathered
for the event. There was much music
and speech-making and a salute of 80
guns, one for each year of the Re
public. The day ended with fireworks
at Fort McHenry. Many years We're
to elapse before there would be any
more celebrations about the Washing
ton Monument,
First Of all, only about $4,000 was
raised in the lottery. Other lotteries
were engineered, private subscrip-
tions solicited and, in the end, the
State of Maryland took over the re-
sponsibility. Even at that Mills lost
$522.75 on the single project of lifting
the statue of George Washington to
the tip OF the column. This statue, the
subject of which was Washington re-
signing his commission at Annapolis,
had been sculptured by Henrico eau
sici from a magnificent block of pure
white marble. The finding Of this
marble was rare coincidence Mills
and Causici and members of the COM
mittee travelled from one quarry to
another in the search. In a quarry be-
longing to Mrs. F. T. D. Taylor of
Baltimore county they found Sin a
field by itself" the perfect block of
marble, pure, flawless, white, and ex-
actly the right size from which to
carve the heroic figure Of Washing
ton. The excitement of discovery en-
Unused Mrs. Taylor into donating the
marble
Causici was delighted and applied
his talent laboriously and conscien-
tiously to the making of the statue.
Apace with it rose the Greek Doric
column. AS the figure neared compile
ton Causici became haunted by the
fear that it would fall and be shat