The progress of the society was at first slow, and in 1836 only about $28,000 had been collected. In 1836 advertisements were published by order of the society inviting designs from American artists, but no limitation was placed upon the form of the design. It was determined by the society, and so recommended, that any plans submitted should “harmoniously blend durability, simplicity, and grandeur.” The estimated cost for the proposed monument was not less than $1,000,000. A great many designs were submitted, but the one selected among the number was that of Robert Mills, a well-known and eminent architect of that period. This plan was published. It is the design of an obelisk 500 feet high and 70 feet at the base, rising from a circular colonnaded building 100 feet high and 250 feet in diameter, surrounded by 30 columns of massive proportions, being 12 feet in diameter and 45 feet high. There was to be an equestrian group over the portal. The interior was designed to be “a spacious gallery and rotunda,” which was to be a national pantheon, adorned by statues of the Colonial Fathers, paintings commemorative of battle scenes of the Revolution, and a colossal statue of George Washington. The feature of the pantheon surrounding the shaft was never formally adopted by the society as a part of the Monument. Its first purpose was to secure the necessary funds for the shaft. By December 10, 1838, the funds of the society had reached $30,779.84, and the following year a restriction of a contribution to the sum of $1 appears to have been removed. In 1846 the society, through its ex officio president, James K. Polk, made another appeal, stating the society wished to proceed with the erection of the Washington Monument, and it was hoped legislation would be enacted at the following session of Congress to provide a location for it. By a resolution adopted February 29, 1847, the United States consuls abroad were also invited to solicit subscriptions “for the erection of a suitable National Monument to the memory of Washington from American citizens, seamen, and others of liberal patriotic feelings.” In that year the fund was increased to $70,000. Congress thereupon, in January, 1848, granted authority for the erection of the Washington Monument on public reservation No. 3, on the plan of the city of Washington, containing upward of 30 acres, where the Monument now stands, near the Potomac River, west of the Capitol and south of the President’s house. As has been related, the actual location of the Monument was fixed at a point more east and south of the position indicated in the plan of L’Enfant, because it was somewhat more elevated ground and regarded more secure for the foundation. The original intersection had been marked by Thomas Jefferson by a small monument, known as the Jefferson pier. In the McMillan Park Commission plan of 1901 the site of this pier is indicated for a circular pool.