One of the earliest artifacts in American history is paying a visit to Naperville.
This Sunday, the George Washington Inaugural Bible — which Washington used to swear his oath of office as the country’s first president in 1789 — will be on public display from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Euclid Lodge No. 65 Ancient Free and Accepted Masons at 34 W. Jefferson Ave.
The Bible is coming to Naperville as the city’s local freemasons celebrate their 175th anniversary.
“Naperville and (freemasonry) are firmly intertwined with one another … so we thought having the Bible here would be a really nice gesture for not only our members but for the general public,” longtime Euclid Lodge member Tim Ory said. “You know, to see this piece of history.”
Freemasonry is the world’s oldest and largest fraternal organization. It is believed to have originated in England and Scotland in the Middle Ages as a trade organization for stonemasons tasked with building Europe’s grand cathedrals, The Associated Press reported in 2018. Freemasonry spread to America during the Colonial Era, according to a historical account of the fraternity from the Illinois Freemasonry.
Today, there are thousands of Masonic lodges — local organizations of the fraternity — across the United States. In Illinois, there are more than 420 lodges and some 45,000 masons, the Illinois Freemasonry says on its website. In Naperville, Euclid Lodge was chartered on Oct. 2, 1849, making it the oldest lodge in DuPage County.
Many of the country’s founders were members of Masonic lodges, including Paul Revere, John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin and George Washington, according to the National Park Service.
How Washington came to use a Masonic Bible for his inauguration, though, was a coincidence.
Washington was sworn in as president at Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York City on April 30, 1789. Right before the inaugural ceremony began, however, it was discovered there wasn’t a Bible on the premises for Washington to take his oath on, according to the National Park Service.
In a bind, an Altar Bible from a nearby Masonic lodge was retrieved for the ceremony.
The book today is kept under the custody of St. John’s Lodge No. 1, New York’s oldest operating Masonic lodge.
The George Washington Inaugural Bible, as it has become known, has since been used for the inaugurations of presidents Warren G. Harding in 1921, Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953, Jimmy Carter in 1977 and George H. W. Bush in 1989, according to St John’s Lodge.
For the past couple of years, it has been on display at the New York Historical Society in New York City, senior warden of St. John’s Lodge said in a call Wednesday. The warden, who asked that his name not be published, said the Bible is “almost always on public display.”
Prior to being housed at the New York Historical Society, it was exhibited at New York’s Federal Hall National Memorial. It’s also been on display at the Smithsonian Institution and the National Archives Museum in Washington, D.C., the warden said.
The Bible is available for a president-elect, governor-elect of the state of New York and mayor-elect of New York City to use in their inaugurations. Beyond that, the Bible travels “a handful of times a year” by request, the warden said.
“It’s been all over the country,” he said.
Euclid Lodge two years ago reached out to St. John’s to see if the Bible could be brought out to Naperville, Ory said.
“It’s a pretty involved affair, having them bring it out on tour,” Ory said, adding that members of St. John’s Lodge No. 1 will be accompanying the Bible to Naperville. “But we feel it will be a worthwhile event.”
To see the Bible in real-time is “really going to be something else,” Ory said. Adding in the fact that Euclid Lodge is celebrating 175 years in 2024, the magnitude of the history that they’ll be commemorating “is almost overwhelming,” Ory said.
“Every time I think about it,” he said, “it kind of gives me goosebumps.”
The Associated Press contributed.
