STB-JA99 Masonic Service Association Short Talk Bulletin
Music by Brother J. L. F. Mendelssohn.
Lafayette Square
By: Charles S. Iversen
Bro. Charles Iversen is a Past Grand Master of the District of
Columbia, SGIG Scottish Rite, Orient of the District of
Columbia and a member of Benjamin B. French Lodge #15.
This STB was taken from an article by Bro. Iversen in the 1998
Fall Bulletin, Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Valley of
Washington, D. C.
Lafayette Square is approximately two city blocks in size and is
probably the most famous unimproved plot of ground in the
United States. From the early days of the Republic it has been in
the center of its history, surrounded by the homes of many of the
leaders of our nation and its government.
Like most of downtown Washington, Lafayette Square was laid
out in the 1790s by Pierre Charles L'Enfant, the Parisian
architect of the city, who worked with President George
Washington to locate sites for the principal federal government
buildings. The Square came into being as part of the White
House grounds, the site having been selected personally by
Washington. It was not separated from the White House grounds
until the presidency of Thomas Jefferson when Pennsylvania
Avenue was opened directly in front of the President's mansion,
severing the Square from the White House. It had been referred
to as the lobby of the President's House and later was called the
President's Park. A few years after Lafayette's final visit to this
country in 1824, it was named officially for him.
Background
In 1790 Congress approved as the capital city of the United
States that area which straddled the Potomac River and which
President Washington desired, including the ports of
Georgetown and Alexandria. It was to be "ten miles square " as
provided in the Constitution, and was to "become the Seat of the
government of the United States. " Reports from that era showed
the land was heavily forested, the southern and eastern portion
of which fell into the Coastal Plain, geologically speaking, and
the northern and western portion of which fell into the
Appalachian Plain. The Coastal Plain included the low land
which became the downtown section of the city. The
Appalachian Plain was more elevated and contained thicker and
taller foliage, The former was swampy and bug-infested, also
very humid. Lafayette Square is in this Plain.
That portion of the new capital city which lay north of the
Potomac River including the river itself, was part of the State of
Maryland in 1790. This had been so since 1633 when a land
comprising the colony of Maryland was owned by Cecilius
Calvert, second Lord Baltimore, under a feudal seigniory from
King Charles I of Great Britain. The Calverts then deeded, over
the years, certain parcels of land as they saw fit. There is a deed
on record showing that on September 23, 1685, the land,
including what we call Lafayette Square, was conveyed to one
John Pearce. It was still in the Pearce family in 1790 when the
government started buying up land for the new capital. A deed
in 1792 from the heirs of John Pearce conveyed the land, then
known as Port Royal, to Samuel Davidson, a speculator, in trust,
reserving to the Pearce family the right to occupy the farmhouse
and to use the family burial grounds. Shortly thereafter the
reservation of occupancy and usage was removed and fee simple
title passed to the federal government. The White House
grounds then consisted of 18 acres including what is now
Lafayette Square amounting to about seven acres.
The following quotations appear in a book entitled, not
surprisingly, Lafayette Square by Gist Blair, published in 1926:
"When President Washington first proposed to acquire ... land in
Lafayette Square * it was owned by Edward Pearce whose
farmhouse was located near the northeast corner of the Square,
and the graves of several generations of the Pearce family were
in their little cemetery in that part of the Square on its north side
nearly opposite the White House. Edward Pearce's apple orchard
covered the Square."
"Lafayette Square while a part of the grounds of the White
House was used on September 18, 1793, as the meeting ground
for Masonic Lodges, just before the cornerstone of the Capitol
was laid. President Washington with his suite met Lodge No. 15
of the city before the ceremony. " (Lodge No. 15 was one of the
five founding lodges of the Grand Lodge FAAM of the District
of Columbia in February 1811, after which it became Federal
Lodge No. I and continues to exist today).
The Early Days
In the 1790s, while the White House was under construction, a
brick kiln and workmen's quarters were built on Lafayette
Square and building supplies were stored there. In 1797, while
construction was still in progress, a race course for horses was
laid out along the west side of the Square (now Jackson Place).
Thereafter, a market was located on it and, during the War of
1812, soldiers were encamped there.
No building was undertaken around the Square, other than the
White House, until after President Madison was forced out of
the President's House when the British burned it in 1814. By the
time he moved back for the last days of his term in 1817, St.
John's Episcopal Church on the north side of the Square (16th
and H Streets) had been completed (1816) and some residences
were under construction. (Members of the Scottish Rite,
Southern Jurisdiction will recognize this church as where the
Vesper Service is held prior to opening the Supreme Council
Session.)The Square Today
Today, as it has been since the early 19th Century, Lafayette
Square has remained an unimproved park landscaped with
attractive trees and interlaced with walkways and floral displays.
In the center has stood since 1853 a statue of General Andrew
Jackson, hero of the Battle of New Orleans and seventh
President of the United States.
At each of the four comers of the Square stands the statue of one
of four foreigners who served as generals in our Revolutionary
War. They are as follows: Lafayette on the southeast comer,
dedicated in 189 1: Rochambeau on the southwest comer,
dedicated in 1902; von Steuben on the northwest comer,
dedicated in 1910; and Kosciuszko on the northeast comer, also
dedicated in 1910.
Lafayette Square, while not a Masonic Park is certainly filled
with outstanding examples of Masons in prominent leadership
roles, who helped forge the new nation. -Editor
Andrew Jackson: Seventh President of the United States; Past
Grand Master of Tennessee; member of Harmony Lodge 1
Nashville, Tennessee.
Marquis de Lafayette: French statesman and officer; hero of
the American Revolution. Known to be a mason although his
Blue Lodge membership is not known. Received the Royal Arch
Degrees in New York City in 1824.
Jean Baptist Comte de Rochambeau: French general of the
American Revolution, and later Marshal of France. Masonic
membership not known but he, LaFayette, and nearly 100 others
were listed as visiting brothers at the institution of the Lodge of
St. John de Candeur at Paris in 1775.
Baron Von Steuben: Major General of the American
Revolution. Apparently received his degrees in Europe and was
a member of Trinity Lodge #10 (now # 12) New York City.
Thaddeus Kosciusko: Polish Patriot and General of the
American Revolution. Although he is generally referred to as a
Mason, no proof of his membership has been found.
(Source: Penstocks 10,000 Famous Freemasons)
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