Grand Master Foster Solem with an important mason’s tool, a trowel. He called on fellow masons to “spread brotherly love around the globe.” (Cynthia Sowden)
On Sunday, Aug. 11, Freemasons from around the Twin Cities area gathered at Aveda Arts & Sciences Institute, 400 Central Ave. SE, to reenact the dedication of the building’s cornerstone.
It was 99 years to the day that the cornerstone for the former Masonic lodge was laid. The building was constructed by the Cataract Lodge No. 2, the first Masonic lodge in Minneapolis, which got its start in Northeast.
Approximately 30 masons attended the event, far fewer than the thousands who showed up in 1925. The building’s actual cornerstone on the northeast corner of the building was deemed too hard to get at, so the ceremony was held at the school’s student entrance on Fourth Street.
“This is not something we normally do,” said Keith Reierson, secretary of the Grand Lodge of Minnesota. He noted that cornerstone ceremonies have been held at the University of Minnesota’s Masonic Children’s Hospital and the Masonic Cancer Center.
The Aug. 11 ceremony followed a common formula, however.
The Masons paraded proudly behind the Cataract Lodge banner to the doorway, where a table was set with the tools of the stone masons’ trade: A square, a level and a plumb bob. Use of these instruments dates back thousands of years; the tools used in the ceremony were also used in the 1925 dedication. They’re housed at the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center in Bloomington.
Also on the table were flagons of wine and oil, and a shallow, chalice-like container with dried corn. Billy Richards, a member of Northeast’s Arcana Lodge, 920 Lowry Ave. NE, explained, “The wine, oil and corn represent the wages of a master mason in the currency of an ancient society.” Charlie Beekman, Arcana’s past Master, chimed in, “Everything we do is symbolic.”
Minnesota Grand Master Foster Solem conducted the ceremony, which included prayers. He reminded attendees that George Washington, a Mason, laid the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol in 1793.
He then held up a trowel. “Just as a trowel spreads cement to unite the bricks of a building,” he said, “so Masons spread brotherly love around the globe.”
He called upon various officers to examine a brick which was used as a stand-in for the cornerstone, using the square, level and plumb bob, making sure the cornerstone was square, level and plumb. Each pronounced the brick suitable for use, saying, “The craftsman has done their work.” Solem tapped the top, side and end of the brick with his gavel. Then the three masons who had measured the brick poured the corn, wine and oil on it. “May corn, wine and oil, and all the necessities of life abound among men throughout the world, and may the blessings of the Supreme Architect be upon this undertaking,” Solem said.
After a brief speech by an orator, Todd Gaglione, an Aveda cosmetology instructor and a member of the Masons, invited his fellow Masons inside for a building tour and to view a recently found video of the 1925 cornerstone ceremony.
See the Jan. 24, 2024 Northeaster for the history of the Cataract Lodge.
Using the traditional tools of a stone mason, a modern-day Mason makes sure the cornerstone (represented by a brick) is plumb. (Cynthia Sowden)