This Day in History: Washington Monument Is Completed. December 6, 1884. The Washington Monument stood as the tallest man-made structure in the world at the time. A monument to honor the nation's first president, George Washington, had been a focus of Congress since 1783. The Washington Monument Society began raising funds for the structure in 1832. Though fundraising efforts had fallen well short of the the $1 million budget, construction of Robert Mills' design began on July 4, 1848. . Construction was halted in the mid 1850s and did not begin again until 1876. Once completed, the 555 ft. tall monument utilized more than 35,000 marble and granite bricks. Today, 800,000 people visit the monument yearly
