Editing Washington Monument (section)

====Post–Civil War====

The [[American Civil War]] (1861–1865), halted all work on the monument, but interest grew after the war's end. Engineers studied the foundation several times to determine if it was strong enough for continued construction after 20 years of effective inactivity. In 1876, the [[United States Centennial|American Centennial]] of the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]], Congress agreed to appropriate another $200,000 to resume construction.<ref name="reeves413">{{cite book| last = Reeves| first = Thomas C.| title = Gentleman Boss| url = https://archive.org/details/gentlemanbosslif00reev| url-access = registration| date = February 1975| publisher = Alfred A. Knopf| location = New York| isbn = 978-0-394-46095-6| page = [https://archive.org/details/gentlemanbosslif00reev/page/413 413] }}</ref>
[[File:Washington Monument, 6 design proposals for the completion ca. 1879.jpg|thumb|Proposals for the completion of the monument published in 1879. Number 6, Henry R. Searle's obelisk was already made public in 1847.]]
Before work could begin again, arguments about the most appropriate design resumed. Many people thought a simple obelisk, one without the colonnade, would be too bare. Architect Mills was reputed to have said omitting the colonnade would make the monument look like "a stalk of [[asparagus]]"; another critic said it offered "little&nbsp;... to be proud of".<ref name="wash" />

This attitude led people to submit alternative designs. Both the Washington National Monument Society and Congress held discussions about how the monument should be finished. The Society considered five new designs and an anonymous "interesting project of California" (which later turned out to be by [[Arthur Frank Mathews]]),<ref>Henry van Brunt: [https://archive.org/details/americanartamer01mont/page/n7/mode/1up?view=theater ''The Washington Monument.''], [[Internet Archives]], "American Art and Art Collections", Walter Montgomery (Editor), E. W. Walker and Company, Boston 1889, pages 354–368.</ref> concluding that the one by [[William Wetmore Story]], seemed "vastly superior in artistic taste and beauty". Congress deliberated over those five proposals (among others by Paul Schulze, who built [[Boylston Hall (Harvard University)|Boylston Hall]]  and [[John Fraser (architect)|John Fraser]] as well as Mills's original. While it was deciding, it ordered work on the obelisk to continue. Finally, the members of the society agreed to abandon the colonnade and alter the obelisk so it conformed to classical Egyptian proportions.<ref name=nps3 />