Baltimore is known as “The Monumental City”, thanks to former President John Quincy Adams, who used the phrase during his 1827 visit to the city. Of course, Baltimore’s most visible monument is our 178-foot tall marble column built in honor of the nation’s first president, George Washington. Baltimore’s Washington Monument on Charles Street in Mount Vernon was constructed between 1815 and 1829, predating the one in Washington, DC by about two decades, and it was designed by the same architect, Robert Mills. The monument was closed in 2010 and is seen below currently surrounded by scaffolding as it undergoes a $5 million restoration. It is expected to reopen on July 4, 2015, exactly 200 years after the structure’s cornerstone was laid.
