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