Evening star., 1943-09-18
Capitol Cornerstone
SesquicentenniaI 10
Pass Unmarked
BY WILL P. KENNEDY.

1lle SeSqulCentennlal OF the lay
Ing of the cornerstone of the Capi.
tol is being allowed to pass to.
day without any special ceremon,
amid these emergency days OF globa
warfare.
David Lynn, architect of tn.
Capitol, said yesterday he had no
heard OF any plan to commemorat,
the occasion. He is determined
however, as soon as possible, tt
have an excavation made aroune
the stone, and have constructed 6
sunken court, memorializing the
"cavazion trench" in which George
Washington, Father of His Coun.
try" and his attendants stood dur.
Ing the ceremony on September l8
1893. With stone steps and a rail.
Ing Installed, visitors on patriotic
pilgrimage to the Capitol woulc
have access and an opportunity tc
see the cornerstone that has beer
buried for century and a half
Six months after the second in
ausuration Of Washington was
solemnized in the Senate Chamber
IN Philadelphia, the first President
laid the cornerstone of the Capitol
in the city named in his honor
city unique in its having been To-
Gated and planned with the delib-
crate intent of making it the Capt.
tai OF a great Nation. And yet this
important historic event has found
but little reference in the pages OF
this country's history.
Rejoicing Spectators.
The laying of that cornerstone
$50 years ago was an impressive
event, attended by an immense
concourse OF rejoicing spectators
and yet, at that time, not a single
public building had then been erect
ed IN the promised metropolis. The
cornerstone Of the White House had
been laid the year before, but the
mansion was not occupied for eight
years thereafter and in 1893 was not
IN state which today would be
considered habitable. Only the pre-.
ceeding January, Maj. Andrew Eli
colt had announced completion OF
his survey of the District, ordered
personally by Washington, and on
April Is, 1891, had set the first cor
nerStone of the District at Jones
Point, Alexandria.
The Capitol cornerstone was set
at noon by President Washington
with Masonic rites, including the
traditional corn, wine and oil lar-
vest Thanksgiving ritual, which also
had been used at the placing of
the District cornerstone.
None of the 53l present members
Of Congress, the more than 1000
employees at the Capitol or the thou
sands OF daily visitors ever have
seen the Capitol cornerstone, much
less know where it is located
because it is buried in the ground
under the foundation. The archi-
tect, or chief engineer, of the Cap
itol cannot tell you how deep it is
under ground.
Under Front Steps.
1t is under the front steps. how
ever, under the east front por-
tico. at the southeast corner of
the old north wing, the original
structure first occupied by Congress
In 1900, and best known for many
years as the "old Supreme Court
section" It is marked by a large
bronze tablet on the exterior wall
OF the old north wing, above the
cornerstone, placed there during
centennial anniversary celebration
exercises on September Is, 1898,
participated in by the three CO.
ordinate branches of Government
the executive, legislative and jul
dicial-and "a vast concourse of the
grateful people of the District of
Columbia"
1t is also marked by a commemo-
rative stone placed in the slab door-
Ing IN front of that centennial
bronze tablet by the Grand Lodge
OF Masonry, on September II, 1892.
during the celebration of the George
Washington Bicentennial.
The original cornerstone laying
was largely Masonic. Washington
had received his Master Mason's de-
gree in Fredericksburg Lodge in
1888 and had thus been a Mason
40 years. Because Washington's
diary for that year has strangely
disappeared his own account of that
day and ceremony cannot be had.
Washington's headquarters were
TN Philadelphia, but as Congress was
not in session and as there was an
epidemic of yellow fever in the City
OF Brotherly Love, all who could de-
parted, including Washington, who
sought rest and relaxation at Mount
Vernon. Historical records relate
that President Washington. on the
way to the new Capital City, had his
coach stopped on the Virginia shore
opposite Georgetown and pointed to
the tree-topped Capitolin Hill say
ing:
There is the beginning of the
grandest structure of the age. There
is about to be celebrated an event
that will never be forgotten. There
are being planted the seeds that are
to grow until the branches flourish