No Golden Trowel

‘Abdu’l-Bahá laid the cornerstone of the House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois, on 1 May 1912. A temporary tent covered a spot of prairie overlooking Lake Michigan. People from different nationalities were on hand to ceremoniously turn over a bit of soil. Miss Irene Holmes of New York presented the Master with a golden trowel for the ground-breaking. He handed it back and asked instead for ordinary tools.

1 / 3

*Star of the West* reported at the time: “Restoring the precious emblem to its leather case, Abdul-Baha next called for the implements necessitated by the gravelly nature of the soil, and in response there was brought to Him first an axe and then a shovel. With these tools of the every-day life of the workers of the world Abdul-Baha and friends from every race present, excavated a resting place for a stone which had been brought to the spot as a loving contribution of material and labor by earnest Bahais from both east and west.”

2 / 3

He then laid the cornerstone.

3 / 3