Masonic Influence in Washington, D.C

Washington, D.C. is the capital of the United States. It has a rich and interesting history. Before there was a Washington, D.C., there was forest and swamp inhabited by the Native American Tribe of Piscataway. The Piscataway tribe lived along the Piscataway Creek in the Prince George's region of Maryland up to our Nation's Capital. Pierre L'Enfant, designer of the city, thought of it as the Capital City. Jefferson referred to it as Federal Town. Washington, however, considered this undignified, and instead used the name Federal City.

George Washington selected a site for the seat of government with which he was very familiar--the banks of the Potomac River at the confluence of its Eastern Branch, just above his home at Mount Vernon George Washington selected a site for the seat of government with which he was very familiar-the banks of the Potomac River at the confluence of its Eastern Branch, just above his home at Mount Vernon. At the end of May 1790 the Senate took up a new residence bill. In July the president signed the Residence Act of 1790. President Washington personally chose the site for the capital. Washington ignored the southern limit set by Congress. President Washington started the survey at his home town of Alexandria, VA. Congress stated the district of territory not exceeding ten miles square, to be located on the River Potowmack (Potomac River) at some place between the mouths of the Eastern branch (Anacostia River) and Connogochegue(Connogochegue is the archaic name for present day Conococheague Creek). The area was accepted for the permanent Seat of the Government of the United States. Today the Federal Triangle is located between Pennsylvania Avenue, Constitution Avenue and 15th Street, NW and is part of the Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site.

Selected by Washington to prepare a ground plan for the new city, L'Enfant arrived in Georgetown on March 9, 1791, and submitted his report and plan to the president about August 26, 1791. L'Enfant (1752-1825) was a student at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris, according to the Arlington National Cemetery. He was born in France and educated as an architect and engineer. Caught up in the spirit of the American Revolutionary War, he came to America at the age of twenty-two and served with honor as an officer in the Corps of Engineers of the Continental Army. Pierre L'Enfant was awarded the rank of major in the Corps of Engineers in 1783.

L'Enfant's 1791 designs for the new capital city represented power radiating from several central sources. L'Enfant began his plan for Washington, D.C., by placing the key buildings, connecting them with diagonal avenues and then laying a gridiron plan over his unique design for the nation's capital. Located in the area encompassed by Constitution and Pennsylvania Avenues, NW on the north, First Street on the east, Independence and Maryland Avenues on the south, and 14th Street on the west, the Mall was originally envisioned by its designer as the foremost boulevard of the city, the so-called "Grand Avenue." The L'Enfant Plan placed the Congress House (the U.S. Capitol Building) on Jenkins Hill and the President's House (the White House) on a low ridge north of the mouth of Tiber Creek, and connected them with a broad, diagonal avenue. George Washington, a Freemason, did commission Pierre Charles L'Enfant.

Washington approved the street plan drawn up by Andrew Ellicott and Benjamin Banneker who were not Freemasons. Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806) was an author, scientist, mathematician, farmer, astronomer, publisher and urban planner. His grandmother, Molly Welsh, was an English dairy maid who was falsely convicted of theft and indentured to a Maryland tobacco farmer. After working out her indenture, Welsh rented and farmed some land, eventually purchasing two African slaves whom she freed several years later. In violation of Maryland law, Welsh wed one of her former slaves, Bannke or Bannaka. Banneker's mother Mary married a free African who took Banneker as his surname upon their marriage. In 1731, they named their first child Benjamin.

Banneker became friendly with the Ellicott brothers, who built a complex of gristmills in the 1770s. A commissioned officer in the Maryland militia, Major Andrew Ellicott was a highly accomplished surveyor who, along with Pennsylvania's David Rittenhouse, extended the Mason-Dixon line westward to its originally intended terminus at the southwest corner of Pennsylvania in 1784. In 1791, Banneker accompanied Major Andrew Ellicott (1754-1820) to the banks of the Potomac to assist him in surveying the new federal city that would become the nation's capital. The following year Washington asked Ellicott to finish Pierre Charles L'Enfant plan for the city. L'Enfant had been dismissed from the project because his perfectionism made him difficult to work with; however, his dedication to perfection shaped a plan that has stood the test of time. Ellicott found it necessary to make some changes to L'Enfant plan. He changed the alignment of Massachusetts Avenue, eliminated five short radial avenues, added two short radial avenues southeast and southwest of the Capitol, and named the city streets. In less than one month Ellicott had a plan ready for the engravers. A few months later Ellicott, like L'Enfant, found himself at odds with the Commissioners and resigned from the project. In 1813, he was appointed by President James Monroe as an instructor of mathematics at the Military Academy at West Point. In 1817, he was called on to be the astronomer for the United States as part of the proceedings of the Treaty of Ghent, establishing the boundary of the United States and Canada concluding the War of 1812.

The oldest museum in the United States devoted to architecture and design, the Octagon Museum facilitates the American Architectural Foundation. The museum is located at 1799 New York Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C., 20006, 202-638-3221, info@theoctagon.org. The Octagon was designed by Dr. William Thornton, first architect of the U.S. Capitol. It was the first house built to help establish Pierre L'Enfant's plan for the city. It was the home of Col. John Tayloe III. Dr. Thornton, a physician, was not a trained architect. His design was the one selected for the U.S. Capitol.

Washington, D.C. is filled with Masonic symbolism. The Octagon Museum, in a joint venture with the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Washington, D.C. will be circulating the exhibition The Initiated Eye: Secrets, Symbols, Freemasonry and the Architecture of Washington, D.C. Included in the exhibit are 21 paintings by Peter Waddell. Near each painting are displays with unique Masonic artifacts, often depicted in the paintings. Many of the items came from the Museum and Archives of the House of the Temple.

There were influential people involved with the formation of Washington, D.C. and who were Freemason. One individual included George Washington who was painted in his Mason's attire. The Bible Used by Washington for the Oath of Office is said to belong to St. John's Lodge No. 1, New York City, according to American Masonic History. The Oath of Office was administered by Robert R. Livingston, Chancellor of the State who at the time was Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New York. Although not part of the text of the Oath in Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution, Washington pronounced the words, "so help me God" and kissed the Bible, setting a precedent that every President has followed to this day.

The President's House, the predecessor to the White House, was designed by Freemason James Hoban. Hoban was not an American like the stone masons who worked on the building. Many were Scottish Presbyterian and Irish Catholic stone masons and master cravers. The group organized the Masonic Lodge in 1793. Later the lodge became Federal Lodge #1 with James Hoban as Charter Master.

Freemason Benjamin Henry Latrobe was asked by President Thomas Jefferson to work on a commission at the new Washington Navy Yard. Latrobe designed a number of the original structures including the massive, arched entrance gate. The Main Gate into the Washington Navy Yard lies at the juncture of the Eighth Street axis and M Street in Southeast Washington. It is a Greek revival structure which has been incorporated into the ground story of a three-story late Victorian building. The gate was designed by Benjamin Latrobe in 1804 and was one of the first structures built at the Washington Navy Yard.

Freemason Latrobe designed the Decatur House. Latrobe was known as the Father of American Architecture. The Decatur House built in 1819 for Freemason Stephen Decatur. The site is said to have great significance. It is near the President's House. The land now known as Lafayette Square was at the founding of Washington privately owned and occupied, being used alternatively as a family graveyard, an apple orchard, racetrack and a market. It was known as the President's Park. During the building of the President's House, the government purchased the property as part of the mansion's grounds. Workers, including numerous enslaved African Americans, camped there during the construction. A famous naval officer, Decatur desired a house as "sturdy as a ship." His house was the first private residence built on President's Park.

On September 18, 1793 by President George Washington was said to lay the cornerstone of the National Capitol with a Masonic Ceremony. The crypt of the United States capitol was designed to hold the body of George Washington. It is the dividing point for the quadrants of the city, northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest. The founding fathers inserted in the center of the crypt a brass compass rose. The location for the new nation's new prime meridian was to replace the Greenwich prime meridian. From this point all distances would be measured including a one-mile standard established between the compass rose and a massive column to be constructed exactly one mile east of the Capitol. From it would be surveyed all lines for future states. The star in the center of the floor denotes the point from which the streets in Washington are laid out and numbered.

The "Church of the Presidents," St. John Church is located at what was President' Park, near the President's House. The first service was held in 1816. Since it was opened, every president has attended at least one service at the church. Pew 54 is reserved for the President. The church was designed by Freemason Latrobe.

In 1824 Benjamin Brown French, Clerk of the House of Representatives and Grand Master of Masons of Washington, D.C., ceremonially laid the 24,500-pound marble cornerstone for the Washington Monument, using the same trowel that George Washington had used when the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol was laid in 1793. According to Brother Gary Scoff the Society solicited each state and territory to present a carved memorial stone for placement in the interior of the monument walls. Soon thereafter stones began to arrive from across the country, and by 1855 the Society had installed 92 commemorative stones of diverse size and composition. Among the stones collected were 22 of Masonic origin. The Washington National Monument Society, in charge of fundraising for the Monument, sensed the importance of Washington's Masonic membership and the great pride Masons felt across the country for their Brother, the father of our country. The Society solicited the Masons, the Odd Fellows, the Sons of Temperance, and other fraternal orders as well. This action resulted in the donation of 22 Masonic memorial stones contributed by 14 Grand Lodges and 8 individual Lodges.

The Smithsonian was named after Freemason James Smithson, an English scientist. He bequeathed $508,318.00 to the people of the United States to develop the institution. The institution was founded by an act of Congress in 1846. The mineral name 'smithsonite' was originally given in his honor to zinc carbonate. Today the name is rarely used. Smithsonian's remains were moved the British cemetery in Italy where he died. He is now buried at the Smithsonian. Smithson never visited the United States while he was alive. Why he left the money to the United States is just one of the mysteries surrounding the Smithsonian.

Work Cited & Resources:
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