On April 12th, , the Grand Master of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Florida placed the symbolic Cornerstone at the Viera Elementary School building. Masons worldwide have conducted this public ceremony since 1738. The earliest record of a formal and official Masonic ceremony was the Cornerstone-Laying at the New Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Scotland, on August 2, 1738.
In our nation, some of the most notable Cornerstone Laying is the White House, or
President House as it was called then, on October 13, 1792, and the U.S. Capitol Building, which our First President, Father of our Country and Brother George Washington presided over the ceremonies on September 18, 1793.
Other notable Cornerstone Layings were:
Erie Canal, New York, in 1823
Battle of Bunker Hill Monument near Boston, Massachusetts, on June 17, 1825
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad on July 4, 1828
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, in 1847
Washington Monument, Washington, DC, on July 4, 1848
Extension wings for the House & Senate of the U.S. Capitol Building on July 4, 1851
St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, Cambridge, Maryland, on June 24, 1881
The Statue of Liberty on August 5, 1884
Washington National Cathedral, Washington, DC, on September 29, 1907
Department of Labor Building, Washington, DC, on December 15, 1932
U.S. Capitol Building East Front Extension on July 4, 1959
Friend to Friend Masonic Memorial Monument at Gettysburg National Cemetery, PA,
on August 21, 1993
In addition to the above, there are many schools, colleges, universities, places of worship, and government buildings throughout the country, specifically in Florida.
The dedication ceremony is the symbolic laying of the Corner Stone, which supports the entire structure. The officers conducting the ceremony, usually officers of the Grand Lodge of the State of Florida, travel from all over the state to symbolically square, level, and plumb the Corner Stone, assuring that it is set correctly and that “the Craftsmen have done their duty.”