Evening star., 1953-10-07
BY George Kennedy

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The Washington Monument
will have its 65th anniversary
Friday.
On october 9, 1888. the Monu-
ment was opened to the public
The steam elevator and the in
terror staircase had been COM
pleted. and the people of Wash
ington and the tourists could be
transported to the dizzy height
of 500 feet. That is the altitude
of the platform and the windows.
The tip of the obelisk is 555 feet.
The Monument has had several
birthdays.
There was the laying of the
cornerstone in 1848, commemo-
rated a century later by Presi-
dent Truman. the only President
who went to the top of the struc-
ture.
There was the placing of the
aluminium cap on a windy De-
cember 6, 1884-an achievement
witnessed on the high platform
by Rudolph Kaufman, then a
reporter and later managing edi-
tor of The Star. And there was
the dedication of the Monument
on February 81. 1885. Washing
tons birthday fell on Sunday
that year, so the ceremony was
scheduled for the Saturday be-
fore.
Once Tallest Structure.
The next three years presum-
ably were taken up with the con-
struction of the staircase and the
elevator, This was the tallest
structure in the world at the
time. 1t was built stone on stone
to last as long as the pyramids.
The Eiffel Tower, a skeleton of
steel and almost twice as high
1889 feet) was not opened until
the following year. The New York
skyscrapers-the Singer Tower,
the Metropolitan Life Tower and
others-which clothed the steel
with stone, were to come later.
A report on the new devolop-
ment was carried in The Star
of October II, under the heading
To the Top of the Monument"
1t read:
"The work of carrying sight
seers to the top of the Wash
inton Monument is now well
started, and hundreds upon hun
dreds of eyes have already gazed
through the windows in the roof
upon the magnificent scene be-
low and around them.
"On Tuesday, the first day on
which the elevator was run for
the public, there were 210 people
taken to the top of the monu-
ment. Yesterday the crowds at
the doors were very large, and
hundreds of people grown tired
Of waiting their turn to go up,
went away.
"The elevator accommodated
SIG during the day, averaging
over 80 passengers each trip"
12-Minute Ascent.
The Monument has been doing
a big business since. The first
elevator took IL minutes to make
the trip. The present one (the
thirdD takes 10 seconds.
The scene below is as magnif1-
cent as ever For the Washing
ton Monument has been a prin-
cipal reason for the ordinances
limiting the height of buildings
in the Capital. The view is much
more impressive than that OBJ
tained from skyscrapers of twice
the height in New York. Every
thing here is dwarfted by the
Monuments height.
Inc IlrSC SIaT reporter TO rlOe
on the elevator mentioned that
he could see Sugarloaf. the lonely
mountain in Montgomery Coun-
ty. 1t can still be seen. The
Washington citizen whose good
fortune it is to be taken by visit
ing friends to the elevation will
notice that the extension of East
Capitol street beyond the Ana
costa is not in direct line with
the Monument and the Capitol
dome. It inclines a bit to the
south.
He will be. interested in the
way the big new building at
Soldiers Home dominates the