The Beef Depot Monument?

You know it as the Washington Monument, but have you ever heard it called "The Beef Depot Monument"? 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Beef Depot Monument will discuss as we took a
bite out of history with Ingles Markets. Construction on the
Washington Monument began in eighteen forty eight. Due to a
lack of funding, construction was halted in eighteen fifty six,
and the start of the Civil War in eighteen sixty
one delayed construction even more. Despite its incomplete state, the
structure and the land around it was put to good
use during the Civil War. Land around the monument was
used to graze cattle and with Washington d c. On

(00:22):
the front lines of the war that was largely in Virginia,
it was also the staging area for the Quartermaster Division,
providing supplies to the Union troops. One of those crucial
supplies beef rations from the cattle that was raised there.
The monument itself was even used as a slaughterhouse and
a place of store meet for the Hungary troops. Even
standing at just one third its proposed height and being
used as a slaughterhouse, the Washington Monument was the tallest

(00:42):
structure in America at the time, and when not being
used to store meets, the public was allowed to go
to the top of the unfinished structure to see all
of Washington. D C. Mark Twain said of the Beef
Depot Monument that it looked like a quote hollowed, oversized chimney.
The Washington Monument was finally opened to the public in
eighteen eighty eight. This has been a bite out of
history with ingles, Mark Keets