President Franklin D. Roosevelt laid the cornerstone in 1939.
The design of the colonnade is in a classical architectural style that Jefferson particularly admired.
Dedication:
April 13, 1943, the 200th anniversary of Jefferson's birth.
Architect:
John Russell Pope
Bronze statue sculptor:
Rudolph Evans.
The Tidal Basin, on which the Memorial is located, is surrounded by Japanese cherry trees which bloom each spring. The trees were a gift from the city of Tokyo, in 1912.