The Lost Gift Stones of the Washington Monument
Posted on February 16, 2018 by jessiekratz
February 19, 2018, is the Federal holiday celebrated as George Washington’s Birthday. Today’s post comes from John Lockwood, a long-time federal employee who has written numerous articles, many for the National Archives.
Some time back, I was busy working on an article about how in 1854 Pope Pius IX donated a gift stone to be installed in the wall of the indoor stairway of the Washington Monument. Although the Monument was still unfinished at that time, other such stones had already been added, beginning with Alabama’s in 1849.
Unfortunately, before it could be put into place, the Pope stone was stolen by members of the (anti-Catholic) Know Nothing Party, so named because any outsider who asked about their activities received the answer, “I know nothing.†The Know Nothing members then dumped the stone into the nearby Potomac River. A replacement Pope stone was later added in 1982.
https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2018/02/16/the-lost-gift-stones-of-the-washington-monument/
