Masons dedicate new memorial at Viaduct Park
By Canton CitizenGod blessed the Masons with clear blue skies on October 10 for the memorial event of the 175th anniversary of the construction of the Canton Viaduct. Approximately 85 people gathered at Viaduct Park for the public dedication of this monument honoring the operative and speculative Freemasons who engineered and constructed this national architectural treasure.
The afternoon festivities opened with a collation served to Masons and visitors at Blue Hill Lodge A.F. & A.M. of Canton. R.W. Thomas A. Rorrie, district deputy of the 7th Masonic District, and R.W. Chandois Bailey, district deputy of the 17th Masonic District, led the procession of the Scottish Kilwinning Club and their bagpipers to Viaduct Park. R.W. Lester M. Oshry, past district deputy of the7thMasonic District, also attended the ceremony.
Master of Blue Hill Lodge and master of ceremonies Wor. John L. Ciccotelli first requested a prayer for the memorial dedication from Chaplain R.W. John Hutchins, then introduced numerous special guests as well as the brethren from Blue Hill Lodge and Rising Star Lodge. Canton Selectman Avril Elkort, whose father and grandfather were Scottish Freemasons, and Bank of Canton President Stephen Costello, offered brief comments. Both the Bank of Canton and the viaduct celebrated 175thanniversaries this year.
State Senator Brian Joyce followed with the presentation of a citation from the Massachusetts House of Representatives and one from the Massachusetts Senate commemorating this great occasion. Canton historian and author George Comeau offered historical commentary to mark the day. He recognized the enormous task undertaken by the operative stone masons, many of whom were also speculative Freemasons, who quarried the granite stone in Sharon and Canton and who cut the stones with remarkable precision using only hammer and chisels, and completed the project in merely 18 months.
Comeau then honored Ciccotelli for both his efforts to spearhead the funding and erection of the monument and his work on the designs on the obelisk in collaboration with the Albanese Monument Company of Westport and the Rock of Ages Quarry in Barre, Vermont, where the granite was quarried from. Comeau also recognized Wor. Ralph W. Staples, secretary of Blue Hill Lodge, for his efforts in keeping the Masonic community informed about this project. Bro. Scott Schoen also relayed information and the progress of the project as webmaster through the Blue Hill Lodge website.
The three-and-a-half-ton granite obelisk was then unveiled by Rorrie and Bailey, and Ciccotelli explained the relevance of the Masonic symbols to the viaduct engraved on the four sides of the granite obelisk: the square and compass, the all-seeing eye, the beehive, and the level. The ceremonies concluded with the deposit of a vial containing corn, one containing wine, and another containing oil by the Jr. Warden, Sr. Warden and Master within the time capsule vault in the foundation of the monument. Bro. Cameron MacNeill then sealed the capsule vault with concrete. A survey disk from the U.S. Corps of Engineers will later be sealed in the center of the concrete cap. The time capsule is not expected to be opened again until 2135 A.D.
Bro. Ed Costanza served as the inspiration behind the creation of this beautiful monument and was a major financial benefactor. Costanza, now an engineer in Phoenix, Arizona, grew up in the shadow of the Canton Viaduct and the architectural structure has always fascinated him. He corresponded with Comeau, a fellow viaduct enthusiast who organized the 150th anniversary celebration of the viaduct, and both men contacted Rising Star Lodge’s historian, Bro. Howard Hanson, regarding the thousands of Masonic marks carved on the stones that form the 615-foot-long, 60-foot-high railroad bridge. As a consequence of his quest to learn more about the viaduct, Costanza also became interested in Freemasonry, and as a result was initiated into Masonry as a First Degree Mason prior to the dedication of the Canton Viaduct Masonic Memorial.
For further information about the Canton Viaduct Masonic Memorial please visit Blue Hill Lodge on the web at www.BlueHillLodge.org.
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Posted by Canton Citizen
on Oct 28 2010. Filed under News.
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