Baltimore to decorate beloved city monument for 46th year

BALTIMORE (AP) - A marble column affectionately known by Baltimore residents as the “original Washington Monument” will be lit up for the holidays.

For the 46th year, Christmas lights will be strung on the city’s Washington Monument on Thursday.

It’s a popular holiday tradition in Baltimore. Officials with the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore say the annual lighting event typically draws some 10,000 people.

The beloved white marble monument in Baltimore’s Mount Vernon neighborhood is 178 feet (54 meters) tall.

It was completed in 1828, decades before the much larger Washington Monument was raised in nearby Washington, D.C.