11/26/2020
November 25th is an important date for the Temple! It was on that date in 1920 that the groundbreaking ceremony took place. 30,000 spectators led by Ira A. Beck, Most Worshipful Grand Master of the MICHIGAN MASONS - Official Page of the Grand Lodge of Michigan participated in the ceremonial turning of the sod.
Approximately six years later on the same date in 1926, the culmination of a six year construction was achieved, and the Temple was formally dedicated. The foundation required the removal of 1,620,000 cubic feet of earth, to a depth of 34 feet. Roughly 3,850,000 bricks and 16,000,000 pounds of structural steel were used in the construction.
The dedication ceremony, led by MWGM Charles Donaldson, had over 80,000 spectators. Under the auspices of Zion Lodge No. 1 F & AM, 22 Lodges, 4 Royal Arch Chapters, 2 Commanderies, 1 Royal And Select Masons Council, 1 Scottish Rite Consistory, and 1 Shrine from the city of Detroit marched from the site of the then Temple at First and Lafayette to the site of the current Temple at Second and Temple.
Masonic author and scholar Joseph Fort Newton was among many dignitaries present, and read a poem for the occasion:
To God, the Father of Man, august Architect of the Universe, by whose inspiration we have understanding, whose grace hath given us a vision of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness, whose love is the benediction in which all things move, we humbly dedicate a shrine of Fellowship and Service, uplifted in the midst of the years, invoking His Spirit of Light and Loveliness to dwell in its courts and consecrate its Altars, blending the Beauty of Holiness with the Holiness of Beauty.
To Man, the Son of the Most High, a pilgrim and a stranger on the earth, here today and tomorrow gone, upon whose fleeting spirit we read a hieroglyph of eternal values—a prophecy glorifying the pathos of his days and years—we reverently dedicate a Vision in Stone, wrought by the skill of the Builders, evoking the Better Angels of his Nature to hollow its halls and arches, making it a place of prayer and praise, standing for honor in the nation, order in the city and purity in the secret places in the soul.
To the Spirit of Masonry—gentle, wise, and benign—uniting Faith, Friendship, Philanthropy, and Fun, drawing men together by the magic of human fellowship and spiritual symbolism, for the quest of truth and the conquest of evil, we gratefully dedicate a Temple of Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth, inviting its magnetic grace to make Democracy a fraternity of Liberty, Justice, and Beauty, Science a minister of Mercy, and Religion a worship of the Love of God revealed in the blessing of man.
To God and Man and Masonry, workers together in building the House not made with human hands—the design of Divine Love, the desire of human loyalty, the dream of fraternal righteousness—we pledge our faith and fortitude and fealty, that Light may shine in the darkness, that Liberty may triumph over tyranny, that Truth may set man free to seek the life of goodness guided by a Love that walks in the Power of an Endless Life.
A Vision in Stone
Joseph Fort Newton
📸: Indiana Limestone Photograph Collection, Indiana University
