The other Washington Monument

The other Washington Monument National indignation followed publication of a notice in the March 2, 1889, Washington Post.

"The Grave of Mary, the mother of Gen. George Washington, to be sold at Public Auction," the large ad announced.

Though the sale was halted through legal channels, the auction notice sparked a movement led by those who felt the mother of the nation's first president should be remembered with dignity. The movement gave birth to two women's organizations whose members worked together to make the Mary Washington Monument in Fredericksburg a reality.

The Mary Washington Monument Association of Fredericksburg formed in 1889, and the next year the National Mary Washington Memorial Association gained its charter. The two groups moved quickly to raise funds for an appropriate memorial. Their diligence culminated in a ceremony that brought President Grover Cleveland to Fredericksburg in 1894 to dedicate the completed monument -- a towering obelisk on a massive base that bears the words, "Mary, the Mother of Washington."

Before raising funds, the local association arranged transfer of the deed to the property to the national association. After the monument's completion, the national group had a stone lodge constructed on the site in 1896 and appointed a caretaker to live there. In the ensuing years, the local group kept watchful eyes on the site to make sure the national group properly maintained it.

As a result of that watchfulness, a rift developed between the two groups in the 1960s. "Care of the grounds has been reclaimed by the Fredericksburg group on the basis of a deed clause that said possession of the area would revert to the local group should it be neglected," said a Dec. 1, 1964, report in The Richmond News Leader.

"Residents of Fredericksburg have written to their local paper complaining about the weeds and debris," said a representative of the local group. "We took care of the house and grounds as best we could," countered a spokesman for the national organization.

By February 1965, the spat had become a lawsuit that had reached the federal courts in Virginia. The national organization filed the suit claiming its property had been confiscated illegally. The suit accused the local group of vandalism and changing locks to the caretaker's lodge.

"On the sidelines of this legal battle are three nationally known figures," said a Feb. 12 report in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. By virtue of the offices they held, President Lyndon B. Johnson, Chief Justice Earl Warren and Virginia Gov. Albertis S. Harrison Jr. were trustees of the national group, as specified by the deed, but they had not been named as parties to the suit.

The local organization filed a response in March requesting dismissal on grounds that the national trustees were not parties to the suit and the national association was not authorized to conduct business in Virginia.

While the case wended its way through the legal system, the two groups reached a compromise. Just days before the case was to be heard, the April 8, 1966, Times-Dispatch reported that the groups were giving the monument and grounds to the city of Fredericksburg. The city accepted the following month, and all parties moved quickly to finalize the arrangement. In a June 26, 1966, ceremony at which Virginia Lt. Gov. Fred G. Pollard spoke, the two groups formally presented the site to Fredericksburg.

Today, the city retains ownership, with oversight and maintenance provided by the George Washington Foundation and the Garden Club of Virginia. Their missions completed, the two associations that built the monument have dissolved.