When
April rolls around, many people think of the beautiful cherry blossoms around
the Tidal Basin
in Washington, DC.
The cherry blossom trees were a gift, made in 1912, from the people of Tokyo, Japan
to the United States.
And
nestled in among all of those blossoms is one of the most majestic of the
national monuments, the Memorial to Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson,
as one of the Founding Fathers of the Nation, was the primary author of the
Declaration of Independence. He later
served as the 3rd President of the United States (1801-1809). His noted accomplishments included:
- the
Louisiana Purchase from France
in 1803 that nearly doubled the size of the Nation;
- the
commission of the famous Lewis and Clark exploratory expedition; and
- maintaining
the security of the Nation by sending the US Navy to defeat the infamous Barbary pirates!
In
1934, it was President Franklin Roosevelt that felt that Jefferson should have
a monument – the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument
having already been constructed. After
some length of time, John Russel Pope was selected to design the Memorial,
which was ultimately based on a neo-classical dome with a portico based on the
Pantheon in Rome. Jefferson himself had used some of the same
features in his home in Monticello,
VA.
Construction
of the Memorial began in 1939. The
statue of Jefferson at the center was created
by Rudolf Evans. The 19-foot high image
was originally cast in plaster as metal was rationed during WWII, but after the
War was replaced with one cast in bronze.
Marble
for the Memorial came from Vermont, Missouri, Georgia
and Tennessee. The granite pedestal for the statue was a
gift from Minnesota. The Memorial has 26 pillars – the number of
states at the time of Jefferson’s death. On the panels of some of the interior walls are
excerpts from the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson’s Bill for
Establishing Religious Freedom, 1777, in the VA House of Burgesses, and various
letters penned by Jefferson.
The
Memorial was completed on this date, April 13th in 1943, the 200th Anniversary of
Jefferson’s birth.
Because
the Memorial was in danger of sinking, a $12.4 million project for major
seawall repairs was undertaken in 2010.
The original timber pilings used to support the wall were probably not
long enough to reach bedrock and were replaced.
Many of the monuments in Washington,
DC, were underpinned with pilings
that reach bedrock, including 500 supporting the WWII Memorial.
If
you ever have the opportunity to visit Washington,
DC, be sure to stop by the
Jefferson Memorial. It is one of the few
monuments that are still open 24 hours a day and admission is free!
