Washington Monument cornerstone fragment, Washington, D.C., 1848
Washington Monument cornerstone fragment, Washington, D.C., 1848
Usage conditions apply
- Description
- Broken from the cornerstone of the Washington Monument laid in 1848, this piece of marble belonged to Joseph Meredith Toner, a Washington, D.C., physician, philanthropist, and amateur historian. A collector of all things related to George Washington, Toner led the revival of the commission that oversaw the completion of the monument in 1884.
- The 24,500-pound marble cornerstone had been laid on July 4, 1848, before an audience of 15,000 to 20,000 people. Begun by private subscription, the construction came to a halt for lack of funds in the mid-1850s. Not until the nation’s centennial in 1876 did Congress finish what in the intervening years had become a national embarrassment.
- The restart began with the construction of a new supporting foundation that covered the cornerstone. Dr. Toner was present when workmen shored up the cornerstone, and he collected a piece of it that broke off in the process. Dr. Toner took great pride in showing it. “I am not a vandal,” he later volunteered to a reporter, who noted that Toner bundled his prize in a gauzy bandage “wrapped around the small chunk of marble as carefully as the swaddling clothes around the ghostly form of an Egyptian mummy.”
- Transfer from the Joseph Meredith Toner manuscript collection, Library of Congress, 1961
- Object Name
- cornerstone piece
- associated place
- United States: District of Columbia, National Mall, Washington Monument
- Physical Description
- marble (overall material)
- ID Number
- PL.235052.01
- catalog number
- 235052.01
- accession number
- 235052
- Credit Line
- Library of Congress
- See more items in
- Political and Military History: Political History, General History Collection
- Government, Politics, and Reform
- Souvenir Nation
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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