Build Your Own Adventure: You Did It!

About This Activity

Build Your Own Adventure: Washington Monument is an fun, online activity to learn more about what it took to build the Washington Monument. You choose what to do at each stage and discover the fascinating real-life twists and turns in the history of building this iconic monument to George Washington. 

Start at the beginning or continue your adventure on this page.

Invitation to the completion ceremony of the Washington Monument on February 21st, 1885. [1]

NPS

"First in War, First in Peace, and First in the Hearts of his Countrymen."

On a breezy December 6, 1884, Lt. Col. Thomas Lincoln Casey supervised as the 3,300-pound capstone was brought out through one of the windows of the pyramidion. It was hoisted to the scaffolding at the top of the monument and set in place. Casey then placed the 8.9-inch aluminum tip atop the capstone to the cheers of the crowd below. Notable names and dates of the monument's construction are inscribed on the aluminum cap, making the whole convoluted path towards this moment seem simple. On the east side of the tip, facing the rising sun, are the words "Laus Deo," which means "Praise be to God" in Latin.

The Washington Monument is finished and ready to be opened to the public. A grand celebration has been planned for February 21, 1885, and hundreds of people are expected to attend.

You are asked to speak at the dedication.

What do you want everyone to remember about George Washington and his monument?

Click the photo to go back to the beginning and build the Washington Monument again!

[1] Transcription of the invitation to the dedication ceremony for the Washington Monument: “Ceremonies on the Completion of the Washington Monument Capitol, Washington, D.C., Jany. 14th 1885. The Commission appointed under the Joint Resolution of Congress approved May 13th 1884, in relation to ceremonies to be authorized at the dedication of the Washington Monument requests the pleasure of your attendance at these ceremonies to be held in the City of Washington, D.C. on February 21st 1885. John Sherman (Chairman of Commission.) To [blank space for name]" With lists of Senators, Representatives, and Members of the Washington National Monument Society at the bottom