The Know-Nothings’ involvement in Washington Monument history includes far more than the 1854 theft of the Pope’s stone. The very next year, in fact, the Know-Nothings took over the Washington National Monument Society itself, in a disputed election...
One of the more vivid stories of the Washington Monument is the theft of the Pope’s Stone in 1854, apparently by members of the anti-Catholic, anti-Papist Know-Nothing Party. It all began with the American nativist movement of the mid-19th century...
