PROCEEDINGS OF THE GRAND LODGE OF ALABAMA AT THE SPECIAL COMMUNICATION HELD ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 1918 HALL OF BIRMINGHAM TEMPLE LODGE No. 636 F. & A. M. BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA, May 15, 1918. A Special Communication of the M.. W.. Grand Lodge. F.. & A.. M.. of Alabama was held at ten o'clock this morning in the Hall of Birmingham Temple Lodge No. 636 for the purpose of laying the corner-stone of the new Post Office Building being erected in Birmingham, Alabama. ROBERT S. TEAGUE.. PERCY B. DIXON. JULIAN F. SPEARMAN. THOMAS O. JONES.. ALFRED JAMES DICKINSON. JOHN WILSON TERRY... GEORGE A. BEAUCHAMP. JOSEPH D. MATLOCK. JAMES T. MAINOR.. LEW LAZARUS.. SAMUEL B. KLIPPELT. CHARLES J. WALKER.. PRESENT. Grand Master Deputy Grand Master as Junior Grand Warden Grand Secretary Senior Grand Deacon Junior Grand Deacon ..as Senior Grand Steward ..as Junior Grand Steward Grand Tiler and a due representation of Lodges. The M.. W.. Grand Lodge was opened in Ample Form by the M.. W.. Grand Master. Prayer by the R.. W.. and Reverend Grand Chaplain. A procession was then formed by the Grand Marshal and the Grand Lodge, escorted by the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of Alabama with a thousand uniformed knights in line, proceeded to the site of the building accompanied by a procession of the brethren numbering by actual count more than ten thousand. The corner-stone of the new Post Office Building was then laid in due and ancient Masonic form by Most Worshipful Grand Master, Robert S. Teague. Music was furnished by a military band and a most excellent chorus. ́ LIST OF ARTICLES CONTAINED IN CORNER-STONE BOX. List of Blue Lodge Masons of Jefferson County. Coins of present era: Five-dollar gold piece. One-dollar silver. Fifty cents silver. Twenty-five cents silver. Ten cents silver. Five cents nickel. One cent copper. List members United States District Court, Birmingham, Alabama. Statistical and Historical Data, regarding corner-stone. Grand Lodge Proceedings, 1917. Grand Royal Arch Chapter Proceedings, 1917. Grand Council Proceedings, 1917. Grand Commandery Proceedings, 1917. Grand Chapter Order Eastern Star Proceedings, 1917. Transactions A. A. S. R., S. J., Council, 1917. Allocution Grand Commander George F. Moore, Supreme Council A. A. S. R., S. J., 1917. Programme A. A. S. R., S. J., May 1st to 4th, 1917. Programme A. A. S. R., S. J., May 15th to 19th, 1917. Programme Special Conclave Cyrene Commandery May 10th, 1918. Programme Zamora Temple A. A. O. N. M. S. Ceremonial Session May 15th, 1918. Photo first white child born in Jefferson County, Dr. Joseph Riley Smith. History Jackson Highway. Brief Biography Andrew Jackson. Roster Birmingham Writers' Club. History and Roster Pioneer Club, Birmingham, Alabama. Copy Birmingham Age-Herald, May 15th, 1918. Statistical Statement United States Post Office Department. Statistical Statement Internal Revenue Department. Statistical Report Superintendent Construction United States Pub lie Buildings. Copy New Age Magazine. Ritual Corner-Stone Ceremonies, F. & A. M. HOLY BIBLE. Post Card showing photograph of Building. Card, L. G. Pettyjohn. Card, Mrs. W. H. Morris. Expression on card, by Congressman J. Thomas Heflin. Old coin, by George A. Beauchamp. ADDRESS OF RIGHT WORSHIPFUL BROTHER GEORGE F. MOORE. M.. W.. Brother Lawrence H. Lee then introduced Right Worshipful Brother George F. Moore, Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of the 33rd degree, A. A. S. R., S. J., who delivered the following address: Most Worshipful Grand Master and Brethren: I am indebted to my good friend, and Brother, for his words, that sound to me very much above any merit that I may possess; but he speaks to you truly as to the fact of my residence, real residence, for no matter where I may have traveled in the past; no matter where I may go in the future, the ties that bind me to our great Commonwealth have never been broken, and will never be weakened. I am in mind, in heart, and in allegiance, an Alabamian. I well remember the first visit that I paid to this place which is now the city of Birmingham. I remember that there were lots of vacant lots here for sale. I remember that there were people living here. I remember that there was a hotel, and that the approach to it was over an embankment of red mud, by the way of a twelve-inch plank. The plank had never visited, fortunately, a planing mill, and it was rough and ready, when it behaved itself and didn't try to turn over or get on edge. What a contrast that scene was to this, as I look about me; these splendid buildings; these hotels; these streets and sidewalks, and this thronging multitude of people. The great iron industry was in its infancy, and Red Mountain was only a name to conjure with, and only give indications of the wonderful wealth hidden in Jefferson County. The great industries were just beginning, but by the courage, the perseverance, the pluck of the citizens of Birmingham and its friends, all that was transmuted into a great, modern American city, which we find about us today. I might continue these pleasant reminiscenses, but we are here for the purpose of laying the corner-stone of a building to be used by the Government of the United States. The Grand Master has announced that it has been "properly laid." It will be the building in which the courts of the United States will do justice between man and man in the Northern Judicial District of Alabama; and it will house in part all those agencies of our great Government in the relations of the people to its Government. The corner-stone has been laid properly, and we are indeed glad that our great Fraternity has been called upon to do this service. May this building be erected speedily and properly, and remain standing until, in the future, it may be replaced by another, grander, and more magnificent, which shall serve the like purposes for the great city, the metropolis of the Southwest of our country. While you have waited here patiently, and have observed these proceedings, you have doubtless asked yourself, Why Freemasons are invited to lay the corner-stone of public buildings; and, What are the meanings of these ceremonies which you have seen; and, Why are corner-stones of public buildings laid by any society or fraternity. Time doesn't suffice that I should do more than give a brief, rough sketch in answer to these queries. Modern Freemasonry was established more than 200 years ago in London, England, by four old lodges, and five years after the revival of the Fraternity, the Grand Lodge of England, the first in the world, laid the corner-stone of a building, one of the great churches of London, Saint Martins in the Fields; and from that time down to the present, in Great Britain, England, Ireland, Scotland, and in all its colonies, including our own country until it proclaimed its independence from England, corner-stones have been laid by the Masonic Fraternity. It would fill a volume were I to endeavor to give you even the names and the dates of the corner-stones that have been laid by our Fraternity, and I must content myself with calling attention to only two, which, in my judgment, are the most important that have ever been laid by a Masonic, or by any other fraternity. That The greatest building in our Republic today is the Capitol in the city of Washington. On the 18th day of September, 1793, the greatest man in America at that time, than whom no man has been greater from that day to this, laid the corner-stone of that building. man was a Free Mason, and his name was George Washington. led the Masonic procession. He took in his hand the gavel, the Masonic authority; and he led the Brethren, the Grand Lodge of Maryland, and the Masons of Alexandria, Virginia, and of Maryland, and himself performed the service, just like the one you have seen here today. I have brought with me the exact copy of the inscription on that stone, which is from the documentary record published by the Congress of the United States, and it reads as follows: "This southeast corner-stone of the Capitol of the United States of America, in the City of Washington, was laid on the 18th day of September, 1793, in the 13th year of American Independence, in the first year of the second term of the presidency of George Washington, whose virtues in the civil administration of his country have been as |