Zero Milestone - Washington, DC
Posted by: 
showbizkid
N 38° 53.707 W 077° 02.193
18S E 323383 N 4307109
The Zero Milestone is a monument in Washington, D.C. intended as the initial milestone from which all road distances in the United States should be reckoned when it was built. It sits in front of the White House.
Waymark Code: WM1AYF
Location: District of Columbia, United States
Date Posted: 03/19/2007
Views: 190
Designed by Washington architect Horace W. Peaslee, the monolith is about 2 feet square and about 4 feet high. It is made of precambrian granite from Milford, Massachusetts, light pinkish to greenish gray, with spots of black biotite mica.
The current Zero Milestone monument was conceived by good roads advocate Dr. S. M. Johnson, formally proposed on June 7, 1919. He was inspired by ancient Rome's Golden Milestone located in the Forum. On July 7, 1919, a temporary marker for the Zero Milestone was dedicated on the Ellipse south of the White House during ceremonies launching the Army's first attempt to send a convoy of military vehicles across the country to San Francisco, California. On June 5, 1920, Congress authorized the Secretary of War to erect the current monument, design to be approved by the Commission of Fine Arts and installed at no expense to the government. Dr. Johnson took charge of the details and raised donations for the design and construction. The permanent Zero Milestone was dedicated in a ceremony on June 4, 1923.