On September 6th, 1922 at four o’clock in the afternoon, our founders conducted a ceremony and laid our cornerstone. Josiah L. Webster presided. Rev. William B. Kinkaid, Senior Curate of Trinity Church conducted the service. Webster’s Treasurer and Secretary were present, as were our architects and builders, and a number of persons who were employed at Macy’s Department Store when Charles Webster was a Senior Member of the firm.
Mr. Jesse Isidor Straus, the Treasurer (who later became our Ambassador to France and who died on the Titanic), read this list of the deposits in the box placed in the corner stone:
- A copy of the last will and testament of Charles B. Webster
- A copy of the Certificate of Incorporation of The Webster Apartments
- A framed photograph pf Charles B. Webster
- A copy of The Holy Bible
- A copy of the service used that day in laying the Cornerstone
- Copies of the daily papers of September 6, 1922: The New York Times, The New York Herald, The New York Evening Post.
In placing the box, this is what Josiah Webster said:
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, we place this foundation-stone that here true faith, steadfast hope and unfailing charity may dwell and that this house may be set apart to the greater glory of god as a dwelling for those who labor in the work of the world.
He then spread the mortar three times on the foundation with a silver trowel, suitably engraved. The cornerstone was then lowered into place. The trowel hangs in a box in our Front Lobby.
How joyful Charles and Josiah Webster would be to know that to this day, ninety two years later, Webster is filled with women who labor in the work of the world. What amazingly kind and generous our benefactors were! We are so grateful.
