Blodget's Hotel

The Cornerstone

{After dedication of the Corner Stone of the District of Columbia at Jones Point on April 15, 1791,} … The next public Masonic function in the embyro city, of which there is evidence, was the laying of the cornerstone of the Union Public Hotel, better known as Blodget's Hotel, which was located between E and F and Seventh and Eighth Streets, N. W., on the site of the old General Post Office, now the Land Office building, and was the most pretentious hostelry in Washington in the early days.

The ceremony took place July 4, 1793, and, while there is no available account of the event, the fact is proven by the existence of a copper plate placed in or on the stone at that time, and discovered forty-six years thereafter.

The plate, a facsimile of which is here given, is in the possession of Bro. Andrew H. Ragan, of B. B. French Lodge, (a son of the late Bro. Daniel Ragan, of Potomac Lodge, one of the devoted few who, in 1838, prevented the surrender of the charter of that Lodge), and its authenticity is vouched for by the following endorsement: “This plate was found in cleaning away the rubbish from the new General Post Office on E, between Seventh and Eighth Streets West, in the City of Washington. Presented by Charles Coltman, the Superintendent, Oct. 8, 1839.”

History of The Grand Lodge and of Freemasonry in The District of Columbia. Compiled by W. Bro. Kenton N. Harper, Naval Lodge, No. 4. Published By Order of The Grand Lodge, 1911. Page 13..

The image of the Copperplate appears between Pages 16 & 17.