# 1510 FDC - 1973 10c Jefferson Memorial
10¢ Jefferson Memorial
Quantity: Unknown
Dedication Of Jefferson Memorial
In the early 1900s, citizens of Washington, DC, recognized that a site on the shore of the Potomac River’s Tidal Basin, directly south of the White House, would be an ideal place for a high-profile monument. The Senate Park Commission proposed that a Pantheon-like structure be built there with “the statues of the illustrious men of the nation, or whether the memory of some individual shall be honored by a monument of the first rank may be left to the future.” But no further action was taken.
In 1918, the area was made into a beach, but it closed in 1925. That same year, the district held a design competition for a memorial in honor of Theodore Roosevelt. John Russell Pope’s design won, but Congress never allocated funds and the memorial was never built.
Construction finally began on December 15, 1938. And less than a year later, on November 15, 1939, President Roosevelt laid the cornerstone in a special ceremony. He called the memorial America’s “third great shrine” (following the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial). He went on to say, “In the current era in the erection of noble buildings in all parts of the country we recognize the enormous influence of Jefferson in the American application of classic art to homes and public buildings – an influence that makes itself felt today in the selection of the design for this very shrine for which we are laying the cornerstone.”
The Memorial was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966 and in 2007 the American Institute of Architects ranked it fourth on the “List of America’s Favorite Architecture”.
10¢ Jefferson Memorial
Quantity: Unknown
Dedication Of Jefferson Memorial
In the early 1900s, citizens of Washington, DC, recognized that a site on the shore of the Potomac River’s Tidal Basin, directly south of the White House, would be an ideal place for a high-profile monument. The Senate Park Commission proposed that a Pantheon-like structure be built there with “the statues of the illustrious men of the nation, or whether the memory of some individual shall be honored by a monument of the first rank may be left to the future.” But no further action was taken.
In 1918, the area was made into a beach, but it closed in 1925. That same year, the district held a design competition for a memorial in honor of Theodore Roosevelt. John Russell Pope’s design won, but Congress never allocated funds and the memorial was never built.
Construction finally began on December 15, 1938. And less than a year later, on November 15, 1939, President Roosevelt laid the cornerstone in a special ceremony. He called the memorial America’s “third great shrine” (following the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial). He went on to say, “In the current era in the erection of noble buildings in all parts of the country we recognize the enormous influence of Jefferson in the American application of classic art to homes and public buildings – an influence that makes itself felt today in the selection of the design for this very shrine for which we are laying the cornerstone.”
The Memorial was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966 and in 2007 the American Institute of Architects ranked it fourth on the “List of America’s Favorite Architecture”.