Building the Washington Monument 04:19. In a town full of monuments, there's one that stands above them all. Paul Goldberger, professor of design and architecture at the New School in New York ...

On this day in history, Oct. 9. 1888, the Washington Monument opened to the public in Washington, D.C. The construction honors the nation's first president, George Washington.

The Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., dedicated to George Washington, was completed on Dec. 6, 1884, after nearly four decades of construction.

In early 19th-century Washington, D.C., the already dysfunctional U.S. Congress couldn’t come to a consensus on what a monument to the first president might look like or how to pay for it.