The Cornerstone

The Cornerstone is the everyday name given to a particular stone symbolically laid by 'Abdu'l-Bahá at Wilmette, Illinois in 1912, at the ceremony to dedicate the temple, which was to become the first Mashriqu'l-Adhkár of the western hemisphere. Mrs. Esther ("Netty") Tobin, a seamstress of Chicago, had no money to contribute to the Temple Fund, but thought she could contribute in kind. Accordingly, she approached a workman on a building site, and asked him whether this stone was surplus to requirements. He said that it was, as it had been rejected for the present building work. With a friend, she manoeuvred the stone into a baby carriage. They got the carriage onto a tram, much to the displeasure of the conductor, and three tram rides later, arrived somewhere near to Wilmette. However, under the weight of the stone, the carriage eventually collapsed. They saw some boys with an express wagon, which was a sort of child's trolley which can be steered by a handle, and got the boys to help them deliver the stone to the temple site. When 'Abdu'l-Bahá was about to "lay" the first stone, he expressly asked for the one brought by Netty Tobin, and it is this stone which can be seen today in one of the basement rooms of the Wilmette temple. Although different accounts give slightly different versions of this story, the version above can be found in full in Mrs. Tobin's own words in the book "Vignettes from the Life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá".

The book entitled "The Cornerstone" tells the story of the day of the ceremony, but does not detail the progress of the stone to the site.