first built. pat collins has more on that. >> every skyline shot of washington d.c. has the washington monument in it. it's a big stage in that regard. >> reporter: that's jim bernard. he knows the monument top to bottom. he's written a book about it. that's where we got these stories. the stone color controversy. the light stone on the bottom, dark stone on the top. how did that happen? the ground breaking for the monument was in 1848. the original stone came from a quary. they ran out of money. the construction stopped. it was only 150 feet tall. author mark twain said it looked like a broken which i amny. 1957, on the eve of their big game with st. john's high, some students from gonzaga hung a banner from the monument saying beat st. johns.