The Washington Monument was once the tallest building in the world! It surpassed the Cologne Cathedral and was surpassed by the Eiffel Tower.
During the dedication ceremony in 1848, 20,000 people attended, including James Buchanan, Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Dolley Madison and Alexander Hamilton’s widow, Betsey Hamilton, and of course, the then-current President, James K. Polk.
The cornerstone contains copies of the US Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and other objects.
The monument is held together by only gravity and friction, there was no mortar used in its construction.
Pope Pius IX gifted a marble stone to be used in the base of the monument, which caused outrage in American anti-Catholic political parties leading to a temporary construction halt.
An earthquake damaged the monument in 2011.