page_title: History of the National Park Service
section_title: National Memorials line, 1776–1933
hierarchical_section_title: History of the National Park Service / Reorganization of 1933 / National Memorials line, 1776–1933
caption_attribution_description: English: Author: Brian Young (bravesfan8456) Taken: 8/25/08, Washington, DC Description: Washington Monument at night from the Jefferson Memorial, reflecting in the Tidal Basin.
context_page_description: Since 1872 the United States National Park System has grown from a single, public reservation called Yellowstone National Park to include 418 natural, historical, recreational, and cultural areas throughout the United States, its territories, and island possessions. These areas include National Parks, National Monuments, National Memorials, National Military Parks, National Historic Sites, National Parkways, National Recreation Areas, National Seashores, National Scenic Riverways, and National Scenic Trails.
context_section_description: The first memorial was authorized by the Continental Congress on January 25, 1776, to honor General Richard Montgomery, killed during an assault on the heights of Quebec in the midst of a snowstorm on the night of December 31, 1775. Montgomery commanded New York troops sent a few months before on an expedition designed to win Canada to the Revolutionary cause. It failed before Quebec, and Montgomery, became one of the first Revolutionary generals to lose his life on the field of battle. The Montgomery Memorial is not a part of the National Park System. But the chapel where it is located, St. Paul's Chapel, is a National Historic Landmark.
  The Continental Congress climaxed its commemorative actions in August 1783 by resolving "that an equestrian statue of General Washington be erected where the residence of Congress shall be established." The equestrian statue of Washington is executed by Clark Mills, placed in Washington Circle on Pennsylvania Avenue, and dedicated in 1859.
  When the centennial of Washington's birth came in 1832 with no satisfactory monument to in the National Capital, George Watterston, Librarian of Congress, and other civic leaders organized the Washington Monument Society, to erect an appropriate monument from private subscriptions. In 1848 Congress transferred a site on the Mall to the Society, and the cornerstone of the Washington Monument was laid on July 4. Slow progress was made worse by the Civil War. When the nation's first centennial came around in 1876 the Washington Monument was only a third completed. The United States Congress passed legislation authorizing the transfer of the Monument and site to the United States for completion and maintenance as a National Memorial. The Washington Monument was dedicated on February 21, 1885.
  In 1933 these National Memorials were added to the National Park System and the National Memorial function assigned to the National Park Service, except Perry's Victory Memorial, which was administered by a commission until it was added to the System in 1936. Also, the fiscal functions of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial Commission were assigned to the National Park Service in 1933 and the Memorial itself in 1938.
caption: Washington Monument
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