At the western end of the Mall, the 555-ft, 5-inch Washington Monument punctuates the capital like a huge exclamation point. In 1833, after years of quibbling in Congress, a private National Monument Society was formed to select a designer and to search for funds to construct this monument. Robert Mills's winning design called for a 600-ft-tall decorated obelisk rising from a circular colonnaded building.

Because of the marshy conditions of L'Enfant's original site, the position of the monument was shifted to firmer ground 100 yards southeast. The cornerstone was laid in 1848 with the same Masonic trowel Washington himself had used to lay the Capitol's cornerstone 55 years earlier. The National Monument Society continued to raise funds after construction was begun, soliciting subscriptions of $1 from citizens across America. It also urged states, organizations, and foreign governments to contribute memorial stones for the construction. Problems arose in 1854, when members of the anti-Roman Catholic Know-Nothing party stole a block donated by Pope Pius IX, smashed it, and dumped its shards into the Potomac. This action, combined with a lack of funds, and the onset of the Civil War, kept the monument at a fraction of its final height, open at the top, and vulnerable to the rain. A clearly visible ring about a third of the way up the obelisk testifies to this unfortunate stage of the monument's history: although all of the marble in the obelisk came from the same Maryland quarry, the stone used for the second phase of construction came from a different stratum and is of a slightly different shade.

In 1876 Congress finally appropriated $200,000 to finish the monument, and the Army Corps of Engineers took over construction, thankfully simplifying Mills's original design. Work was finally completed in December 1884. Four years later the monument was opened to visitors, who rode to the top in a steam-operated elevator. (Only men were allowed to take the 20-minute ride; it was thought too dangerous for women, who as a result had to walk up the stairs if they wanted to see the view.)

To avoid the formerly long lines of people waiting for the minute-long elevator ride to the top, the park service now uses a free timed-ticket system. A limited number of tickets are available at the kiosk on 15th Street daily beginning half an hour before the monument opens. Tickets are good during a specified half-hour period. COST: Free, advance tickets require a $2 service and handling fee per ticket. Memorial Day-Labor Day, daily 8 AM-11:45 PM; Labor Day-Memorial Day, daily 9-4:45. Metro: Smithsonian.