Congress votes in 1876, the Centennial of…

Congress votes in 1876, the Centennial of the Declaration of Independence, to appropriate another two hundred thousand dollars to resume construction of the unfinished Washington Monument, in which interest had grown after the Civil War.

Engineers had studied the foundation several times to determine if it was strong enough.

The monument, which has stood for nearly twenty years at less than one-third of its proposed height, now seems ready for completion, but before work can begin again, arguments about the most appropriate design resume.

Many people think a simple obelisk, one without the colonnade, would be too bare.

Architect Mills is reputed to have said omitting the colonnade would make the monument look like "a stalk of asparagus"; another critic said it offered "little ... to be proud of." ("The Washington Monument: Tribute in Stone". National Park Service, ParkNet.

This attitude has led people to submit alternative designs.

Both the Washington National Monument Society and Congress hold discussions about how the monument should be finished.

The society considers five new designs, concluding that the one by William Wetmore Story seems "vastly superior in artistic taste and beauty.

Congress deliberates over those five as well as Mills' original.

While it is deciding, it orders work on the obelisk to continue.

Finally, the members of the society agree to abandon the colonnade and alter the obelisk so it conforms to classical Egyptian proportions.