Paul D. Dolinsky, 32°

The cornerstone of the Washington Monument, the national tribute to our first president, was laid with Masonic Ceremonies on July 4, 1848.

In 1824 an American bald eagle presided over the welcoming parade for French General Lafayette in Alexandria, Virginia. From atop a triumphal arch twenty-four years later this same eagle witnessed one of the most auspicious events of the new republic, the laying of the cornerstone of the Washington Monument on July 4, 1848. The largest crowd to date in the capitol city gathered on a bright, clear, and promising day to celebrate the seventy-second anniversary of the new nation, and the thirty-star American Flag was publicly displayed for the first time.

A Reporter from the Daily Intelligencer, Washington’s leading newspaper, described the crowd in colorful language:

It were long to tell of the many bright-colored country bonnets which bustled and swayed about in the crowd, like poppy-heads shaken in the wind.

The greatest parade the city had ever seen processed from the City Hall to the grounds of the monument. Included were every branch of the military in full dress, numerous bands, and countless dignitaries. President James K. Polk presided over the event, but the fledgling years of the republic were represented on the dais by Dolly Madison in her last public appearance, Mrs. Alexander Hamilton, widow of the first Secretary of the Treasury, and George Washington Parke Custis, adopted son of George Washington.

Robert C. Winthrop, Speaker of the House, gave the principal address at the ceremony. He spoke of the nation’s debt to George Washington and said:

One tribute to his memory is left to be rendered, … a national monument erected by the citizens of the United States of America.…Of such a monument we have come to lay the cornerstone.… The place is appropriate, here on the banks of his beloved and beautiful Potomac.

The subtle transition from operative masonry to speculative Freemasonry is eloquently illustrated in the cornerstone laying ceremony. Freemasons routinely set cornerstones of major public buildings with an ancient ritual emblematic of the higher role of the builder to his creator.

Born in 1800 in Chester, New Hampshire, Benjamin Brown French, Clerk of the House of Representatives and Grand Master of Masons of Washington, D.C., ceremonially laid the 24,500-pound marble cornerstone using the same trowel that George Washington had used when the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol was laid in 1793. He presented Masonic Brother Robert Mills, the architect of the monument, the working tools, remarking:

I now present to you, my Brother, the square, level, and plumb, which are the working tools you are to use in the erection of this monument. You, as a Freemason, know to what they morally allude: the plumb admonishes us to walk upright in our several stations before God and man, squaring our actions by the square of virtue, and remembering that we are traveling upon the level of time to the “undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns.” Never forget this sublime moral lesson, you are here to use them practically in your profession. Look well to the erection of this National Monument; see that every stone is well squared, and that it is placed in its position both level and plumb, that the noble offering of a nation to commemorate greatness, patriotism, and virtue, may stand until the end of time.

Onto the stone was poured corn, wine, and oil, emblematic of health, prosperity, and peace. Witnessed by thousands, this ancient ceremony was a validation for the young republic that all was “well formed, true, and trusty” and an assurance of our strength and prosperity.

The article, “Masonic Stones of the Washington Monument,” by Gary T. Scott, 33°, from volume 5 of Heredom, tells of further material Freemasons contributed to the Monument:

The Washington National Monument Society, in charge of raising funds for the Monument, solicited each state and territory to present a carved memorial stone to be placed in the interior of the monument walls. Sensing the importance of Washington’s Masonic membership and the great pride Masons across the country felt for their brother, the Monument Society, in 1851 and 1853, solicited members of the Masonic fraternity nationally through the Grand Lodges. This call by the Society resulted in twenty-two Masonic memorial stones from fourteen Grand Lodges and eight individual Lodges.…

Soon marble, granite, and sandstone blocks began arriving from across the country. Although the Society gave specifications for the memorial stones (4 feet long, 2 feet high, and 12 to 18 inches thick), they arrived in all sizes, and all were accepted. By 1855, the Society had installed ninety-two carved commemorative stones [from Masons and other fraternal orders] within the walls of the monument.

The 22 Masonic memorial stones bear the following inscriptions:

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Grand Lodge of Masons/Dist of Columbia/Our Brother/ George Washington
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Presented by/Washington Naval Lodge/No. 4/Ancient York Masons/J. Nokes, C. W. Davis, Committee.
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Grand Lodge of Masons, District of Columbia, Our Brother George Washington.
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The Grand Lodge of/Free and Accepted Masons, of/the State of New York./Nelson Randall, Grand Master/William H. Milnor./Ezra S. Barnum./Finlay M. King./Committee.
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By the Grand Lodge of Kentucky:/To The Memory of Washington./The Christian Mason.
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In Token of Respect for/Washington As a Free Mason./By the Grand Lodge of Ohio.
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Patmos Lodge/No. 70,/Masons./Ellicott Mills/Md./ Feb. 22, 1852.
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By the Grand Lodge Masons/of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Maryland/Benj. C. Howard, M.W.P.G.M./ Chas. H. Ohr, M.D. M.W.G.M./Enoch S. Courtney, R.W. S.G.W./Jno. W. Ball, R.W.J.G.W./Jos. Robinson, R.W.G.S./ Samson Cariss, R.W.S.T./J. N. McGilton, D.D.W.G.C./ Chas. B. Purnell, W.G.Ml./Chas. Gilman, M.W.P.G.M./ Thos. H. Hicks, R.W.D.G.M./Com. to procure this stone/ Chas. H. Ohr, M.D./J. N. McGilton, D.D./Alexn. Gaddess/D. A. Piper, R.W.P.S.G.W./Wm. Bayley./1850.
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Washington Lodge No. 21, of the City of New York. Instituted A.L. 5800.
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Mount Lebanon Lodge No. 226/A.Y.M., of Lebanon Pennsylvania./Present this block of native marble as a/ testimony of their veneration and respect for/the character and services of/George Washington/A.L. 5851. A.D. 1851.
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[SEAL: Grand Lodge of Alabama. A.L.. VDCCCXXI.] Alabama Marble. Presented by the/Most Worshipful Grand Lodge/of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons/of the State of Alabama/to the/National Monument Society/ Dec. 6th A L. 5849.
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[SEAL: Prosunt Omnibus (It is beneficial to all)/1852] Grand Lodge/of Georgia/Founded/A.D. 1785./Fratrem/ Meminisse (to remember a Brother)./Georgia Marble. By J.B. Artrope.
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Masonic Grand Lodge of Illinois/1853.
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Our Tribute. Lafayette Lodge No. 64 F.A.M., New York City, Sept. 16, A.L. 5853. AD. 1853.
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Washington Lodge of F. and A.M., Roxbury, Mass.
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Ad Majorem Supremi Architecti Gloriam (To the greater glory of the Supreme Architect)/Holiness to the Lord/From the/Keystone/State/A.D. 1851. A.L. 5851./ Grand Lodge/Penna. A.Y.M.
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Presented by/St. John’s/Lodge/No./36/Psalm CXXXIII
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By the Grand Lodge of/Ancient Free/and Accepted/ Masons of/Virginia./Lo! She/gave to/this Republic the Chief Cornerstone./Aug. 4, A.L. 5754.
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The Grand Lodge of Ancient Free Masons of the State of Arkansas. “Ad gloriam fratris nostri et patris patriae. (To the glory of a Brother and the Father of Our Country)
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The Grand Lodge of the State of Mississippi to Their W. Brother George Washington.
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Grand Lodge of Iowa, A.F. and A.M. 1876.
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Presented by the Grand Lodge of the State of Florida.
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