Architect Robert Mills, who later designed the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., won the design competition in 1814. The cornerstone was laid on July 4, 1815, on land from Colonel John Eager Howard's estate. The masonry was finished in 1829.
The column stands 178 feet 8 inches tall, and visitors climb 227 steps to the top. Its ground floor holds a gallery with exhibits about building the monument and the neighborhood around it.
Baltimore's monument was the first major monument to honor George Washington. Mills's first design had a statue of Washington in a four-horse chariot on top, but the plan changed because of concerns about cost and height.