Capitol Cornerstone Centennial • Rare Medal Image • American Photographer Mark Fisher

Rare Capitol Cornerstone Centennial Medal

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Capitol Cornerstone Centennial 

   

Celebrated Sept. 18, 1893

On this day in 1893, federal officials led a celebration that marked the centennial of the laying of the U.S. Capitol corner­stone by President George Washington in 1793.

Government offices were closed for the occasion. A procession retraced the route that Washington and his entourage had taken 100 years earlier. It began at Lafayette Square and proceeded along Pennsylvania Avenue up to Capitol Hill.

President Grover Cleveland headed the parade, followed by members of his Cabinet, legislators, Freemasons, Sons of Cincinnati, veterans of the Mexican and Civil wars, D.C. National Guardsmen and firefighters from across the country.

As the procession wound its way to the Capitol, a crowd estimated by newspaper accounts at 10,000 basked in the late-summer sunshine. A Boston Globe reporter wrote, “The decorations of the Capitol were artistic, but in no way gaudy, and, when the ceremonies began, an animated picture, full of patriotism, life and beauty, was presented to onlookers who thronged the broad terrace along the East Front.”

A 1,500-member chorus, accompanied by the U.S. Marine Corps Band, played patriotic songs and sang classical hymns. Cleveland; William Wirt Henry, the grandson of Patrick Henry of Virginia; Vice President Adlai Stevenson; and House Speaker Charles Crisp (D-Ga.) addressed the throng.

Crisp reflected on the “marvelous growth” of the nation in the century since Washington had laid the cornerstone. “When that century began,” the speaker noted, “we were ‘weak’ ... just struggling into political existence. ... Its end finds us strong in resources, strong in wealth and credit, strong in numbers, and strong in the affection of an intelligent and united people.”