Washington, D.C.:
The Washington Monument reopens three years after an earthquake.
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Visitors to the nation’s capital awakened early and waited in line for hours to be among the first to ride to the top of the Washington Monument, open to the public Monday for the first time in nearly three years after an earthquake chipped and cracked the towering symbol.
The 130-year-old, 555-foot obelisk was built in honor of the nation’s first president between 1848 and 1884 and briefly reigned as the world’s tallest structure until it was eclipsed by the Eiffel Tower.
Engineers spent nearly 1,000 days making repairs to the structure, stone by stone. Now new exhibits have been installed, and the National Park Service is offering extended hours to people through the summer.
For the hundreds of visitors Monday, the trip to the top of the tallest structure in Washington was brief: just a 70-second ride to the top, and a more leisurely two minutes, 45 seconds back down. But the massive monument’s meaning is much more lasting for Marc Tanner.
“I just love American history, I love traveling to see American history, and this is it. You can’t get more historic than this,” said Tanner, of Boca Raton, Fla., who was one of the first to visit the top Monday.
Ferrell Armstrong, 74, of Kinmundy, Ill., and his wife, Connie, 70, visited with their son and were determined to be among the first visitors after he promised the family a stop in D.C. after he underwent treatments for cancer — now in remission — in Virginia.
“It’s just immaculate. It’s just great that people that far back thought about building something this great that’s still here,” he said. “It symbolized to me a great man, George Washington.”
Randall Armstrong, his son, 36, said the view from the top looking over the White House and National Mall was “breathtaking — probably the top site I’ve seen, ever.”