Time-honored tradition: Masons dedicate cornerstone for Redding VA Outpatient Clinic

North State Masons held a solemn and time-honored ceremony Saturday to dedicate a cornerstone for the Redding VA Outpatient Clinic.

The Knighton Road facility provides a range of health services for veterans. It opened in December 2021 across the street from the Redding Veterans Home.

"This building stands as a visible reminder of the debt we owe to those men and women who have honorably served this country with courage and distinction," said Mike Edwards, the Masons' assistant grand lecturer for Division 2.

The public observance was conducted by Masons of the Reading-Trinity Lodge No. 27 and the Chico-Leland Stanford Lodge No. 111, along with officers from the Grand Lodge of California. On Friday they dedicated the Veterans Affairs Clinic in Chico.

The Redding ceremony, presided over by Grand Master Jeffery Wilkins, blessed the building using corn, wine and oil — the Masonic symbols of prosperity, health and peace. The Masons also presented a time capsule.

The fraternal organization says its cornerstone ceremony also was conducted by President George Washington to dedicate the U.S. Capitol building in 1793. The same ceremony happened in 1850 when California Masons placed the state Capitol's cornerstone in Sacramento.

The VA clinic's cornerstone will be installed at the facility's northeast corner.

The Reading-Trinity and Chico-Leland Stanford lodges trace their roots to the mid-19th century and are among the oldest and longest-running Masonic lodges in California, the organization said.

Mike Chapman is an award-winning reporter and photographer for the Record Searchlight in Redding, Calif. His newspaper career spans Yreka and Eureka in Northern California and Bellingham, Wash. Support local journalism by subscribing today.

This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Masons dedicate cornerstone for Redding VA Outpatient Clinic