125 years ago: Completion of the Washington Monument--a Masonic structure

On December 6, 1884, workers placed the 3,300 pound marble capstone on the Washington Monument, and topped it with a nine-inch pyramid of cast aluminum, completing construction of the 555-foot Egyptian obelisk. An obelisk is a structure built in honour of Re, or Ra, the sun god of ancient Egyptian paganism. Freemasonry latched on to this when it became popular in the United States (Martin Short, Inside the Brotherhood, Dorset Press, New York, 1989, pp. 81-87). The Washington Monument was built in accordance with Pierre-Charles L’Enfant’s plan for the city. Mr. L’Enfant was hired by President George Washington to design the city of Washington; he was fired in 1792, and his plan underwent some changes, but his avenues and vistas remained, resulting in a city laid out according to Freemasonic symbolism (Nicholas Hagger, The Secret Founding of America, Watkins Publishing, London, 2007, pp. 164-166). The dedication of the monument on February 21, 1885 was a completely Masonic ceremony.