Zero Milestone

Zero Milestone is a monument in Washington, DC, which was intended as a first milestone, all distances from American roads should be measured from where. Nowadays, only the streets of the area Washington, DC calculated from here.

Location

The monument is south of the White House at the northern edge of the ellipse within the President's Park. On top of the monument is a bronze 16 -blade wind rose with a very small matte pyramid in the middle, the tip of land surveying is used as a measuring point. 38.895108 - 77.036548Koordinaten: 38 ° 53 '42 " N, 77 ° 2' 12 " W

Description

The designed by Horace W. Peaslee monolith has a surface area of 0.4 square meters and is 1.2 meters high. It consists of precambrischen granite from Milford, Massachusetts. Its color Gehr light pink to greenish gray with black Biotiteflecken. The presence on the milestone bronze disc is an adaptation of the wind or compass roses used in the ancient PORTOLAN cards. From which lines to all points of the known world led - The prototype of the navigators compass.

The monument has the following engravings on the sides:

  • North: ZERO MILESTONE (0 Milestone )
  • East: STARTING POINT OF SECOND TRANS CONTINENTAL MOTOR CONVOY OVER THE BANKHEAD HIGHWAY, JUNE 14, 1920 ( starting point of the second motorized transcontinental military convoys on the Bankhead Highway June 14, 1920 )
  • South: POINT FOR THE MEASUREMENT OF DISTANCES FROM WASHINGTON ON HIGHWAYS OF THE UNITED STATES ( starting point for measuring distance to Washington on the highways of the United States)
  • West: STARTING POINT OF FIRST TRANS CONTINENTAL MOTOR CONVOY OVER THE LINCOLN HIGHWAY, JULY 7, 1919 ( the start point of the first transcontinental motorized military convoys on the Lincoln Highway 7 July 1919)

History

In his design for Washington Pierre Charles L'Enfant planned a Pillar 1 mile east of the Capitol, all distances to locations across the continent are measured from the. Instead, the " Jefferson Stone" of the Capitol ( 119 m WNW of the center of the Washington Monument ) in 1804 on the longitude of the White House exactly situated west to highlight the Washington Meridian (77 ° 02 ' 12.0 " ).

The current Zero Milestone Monument was officially proposed on June 7, 1919 by the lawyer Dr. SM Johnson. He was inspired by the Golden Milestone in the Forum Romanum in Ancient Rome. On 7 July 1919, provisional milestone on the Ellipse south of the White House was inaugurated as part of the celebration of the launch of the first military convoy to San Francisco. On 5 June 1920, the United States Congress authorized the Secretary of War for the construction of the monument, the design had to be released by the Commission of Fine Arts and the authorities created by the construction at no cost. Dr. Johnson took care of the details and raise funds for planning and construction. The final Zero Milestone was inaugurated with a ceremony on June 4, 1923.

United States Capitol Zero Kilometre Stone (Budapest) Kilometre zero London Stone
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