John Ericsson Memorial

John Ericsson National Memorial, located at Ohio Drive and Independence Avenue, SW, in Washington, D.C., is dedicated to the man who revolutionized naval history with his invention of the screw propeller. The Swedish engineer John Ericsson was also the designer of the USS Monitor, the ship that ensured Union naval supremacy during the American Civil War.

The national memorial was authorized by Congress on August 31, 1916, and dedicated on May 29, 1926. Congress appropriated $35,000 for the creation of the memorial, and Americans chiefly of Scandinavian descent raised an additional $25,000. Constructed on a site near the Lincoln Memorial between September 1926 and April 1927, the pink Milford granite memorial is 20 feet high with a 150-foot diameter base.

Photo 231, Nov 2008

John Ericsson Memorial

Photo 232, Nov 2008

John Ericsson Memorial

Photo 233, Nov 2008

John Ericsson Memorial

Photo 234, Nov 2008