Los Angeles herald., 1910-02-23
FAME
TO WASHINGTON
MAS0NS TO ERECT TEMPLE TO
FIRST PRESIDENT
SITE IN ALEXANDRIA SELECTED
FOR MEMORIAL
Secretary of War and Grand Masters
of Order Meet and Form
National Association to
Build Monument

ALEXANDRIA, Va, Feb. 22.-The
movement to erect(a permanent Mason
ic memorial to George Washington took
its first definite form today when Gen.
j. M. Dickinson, secretary of war, and
the grand masters of many Masonic
grand lodges met here with other dis
/ tinguished men of the fraternity to
form National Masonic Memorial as
/ soeiation. Perhaps no Masonic celebra-
ton ever held anywhere in America
has been more elaborate.
In this quaint old town of ivy-covered
walls and rambling gardens, on a street
laid out by the young surveyor near
/ the spot where in 1854 Braddock' s
J youthful colonel quartered his troops
/ before the fateful march to the ONO;
/ near the historic old lodge where he
was a master, and in the midst of a
! field rich in the events of his life ana
memory, it will be the purpose of this
association to erect temple to George
Washington, a Mason. Set apart in the
structure will be a hall of fame, in
which space will be allotted to all the
grand jurisdictions in the country to
place tablets to the memories of their
distinguished sons.
Site for Monument
The memorial would stand in WASH
ington street, Close by is the old Christ
church, where in his mature years
Washington served as a vestryman,
In a field not far off he held his last
military review. Across shaded green
in the stately old court house he cast
his last vote, and there his will is filed.
Alexandria, by undisputed consent, IS
the natural site for the memorial.
I tl ny
when he was 16 years old with his half
brother Lawrence, and until the chill,
raw day of his death it was his home
and Alexandria was his home town
He became a member of its council
represented it in the house of burgesses,
endowed its schools, established its fire
department and was master OF It's
lodge.
The men who will form the associa-
tion met today in the same Alexandra
| lodge room where Washington occu-
pied the masters chair. While no fixed
Dlan could be announced prior to the
/ assembly of all the grand masters, II Is
in short the purpose of the lodge TO
raise 81, 100000 to build and endow the
memorial
Memorial to Be Uuique
The institution will be unique among
| the memorials of the world and will
/ permit every grand jurisdiction to hon
| or every Mason it esteems to be deserV-
| ing with leaf in its hall of fame, a
photograph and a biography.
The gathering of such men of proml-
nence in the old lodge was impressive.
Alexandria~ Washington lodge, No. p,
| made Washington it's worshipful mas
ter in 1888. At his request in 1l9l II
laid the corner stone of the District Of
| Columbia, and two years later assisted
| in 1aying the corner stone of the ma
| tionai capitol In 1899 it performed the
Masonic ceremonies at his funeral.
In it's Halls, crowded with precious
mementoes, his memorial was organ
| ized today. There hangs the old char
fer granted by Edmund Randolph,
grand master of Masons in Virginia
| in 1888. Close by, its pendulum cord
| cut and its hands pointing to twenty
minutes after ten in the evening-the
hour and the minute of his death
stands the old bedchamber clock. NO
money could buy this silent old tale
bearer. Nearby in a case is the little
trowel he used at laying the capitol
cornerstone.
Knife Given by Mother
In another room are his wedding
gloves his pocket compasses, farm
spurs. a piece of his tent used at York
| town, his old-fashioned medicine scales
and an eloquent token of his reVer-
ence for his mother-a little knife she
gave to him as a reward for his obe-
dience and which he treasured for
| ffty-siX years.
The Williams picture painted from
| life in 1894, hangs on another wall. 1t
cannot escape the eye, for 1t is much
unlike the accepted likenesses of
| WASHINGTON. 1t shows the man in his
1lI 10 nri o.
| inal life picture eXtant in Masonic re-
gala. His Masonic apron embroidered
| in gold with French and American
flags entwined, presented to the lodge
| in 1912 by his nephew, Lawrence
Lewis, hangs near by. The only orig
inal painting of Lord Fairfax, Wash
| ington's early patron and friend, is
also there.
The masters chair, occupied by Gen.
Washington in presiding over the
| lodge, stands in a glass case, from
| which it is removed only on extra
ordinary occasions. 1t is 122 years old
! and was in constant use for III years.
Scores of other things of his day, the
/ old chairs and benches of the lodge
still in use, the front door key OF the
| Bastile, presented in 1925 by Lafayette,
which have come from relatives and
! friends, are valued beyond estimate.
site is appropriate
There had been a sentiment against
| choosing a new site for the memorial,
| but for a great many reasons the one
proposed on Washington street is bet
ter fitted to the purposes of a national
undertaking and the necessities have
| outWeighed the patriotic sentiment
and have won a graceful consent to
the new site.
Today's first meeting, held in the
| lodge ROOM adjourned at noon and all
went to Mount Vernon by a special
train. The party of distinguished men
walked along the bluff that overlooks
| the majestic river and laid a wreath
upon the tomb. They then returned
to the lodge at Alexandria for con-
ferring of degrees.
Tonight at the annual banquet of the
| old lodge Secretary of War Dickinson,
| James d. Richardson. sovereign grand
commander, Scottish Rite Masons;
| Representatives Charles c. Carlin and
| Champ Clark and the Rev. John Wes-
| ley Hill, y. D.. of New York made ad-
| dresses.
NO LIQUOR PERMITTED
/ CHICAGO Feb 22-"Permit the sa1e