Dedication of the Washington Monument, February 21, 1885 – Antique Wall Art

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)
Description
A window into the past: Dedication of the Washington Monument, February 21, 1885, preserved in this historic photograph. The original is held by the Library of Congress, so what you hang is a true record of its time.
Choose the framed print, ready to hang the day it arrives, or the unframed print for a frame of your own. It brings character to any room and makes a memorable gift. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Snapshots of the Past has been bringing history to the wall since 2001, for tens of thousands of customers worldwide.
Dedication of the Washington Monument, February 21, 1885
Order a print
Thank you. Your order went through, and a receipt is on its way by email.
Secure checkout · SSL encryptedPowered by Stripe and PayPal
Free shipping in the lower 48 states. The checkout page shows the picture, size and price before you pay.
Few American landmarks took as long to finish as the Washington Monument, and this 1885 view records the day it was formally dedicated, February 21. Construction began in 1848 and stalled for years amid funding shortages and the Civil War, and the capstone was not set until December 1884. The dedication marked the end of that long effort, though the obelisk would not open to visitors until 1888. The date and caption come from an unverified card, so the scene is best read alongside the period sources cited in the record.
| Created / published | 1885 February 21. |
|---|---|
| Medium | 1 photographic print. |
| Notes | cf. Constance McLaughlin Green, Washington. A History of the Capital, 1800-1950, oppos. p. 142. This record contains unverified data from caption card. |
| Source | Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division |
| Original scan | 1,536 × 1,163 px · prints to 5 × 4 in at 300 dpi |
| Reference | AMZ-SOTP-HPA-160645 |
More from the Washington Monument collection
Snapshots of the Past helps heritage brands, museums, historians and storytellers tell stories with history: historic prints, image licensing and historical storytelling drawn from more than 25 years of research and curation.


![[Fireworks over the Washington Monument, with group of people on bridge in foreground]](https://images.jameslantos.com/img/60/6033f76e7be9-400.webp)


