1912-1921

Dedication Ceremony
On a chilly spring day, hundreds gathered under a large tent erected on the Temple site for the dedication ceremony. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá stood in the center of the crowd and greeted them with these words:

The power which has gathered you here today notwithstanding the cold and windy weather is, indeed, mighty and wonderful. It is the power of God, the divine favor of Bahá'u'lláh which has drawn you together. We praise God that through His constraining love human souls are assembled and associated in this way.

Thousands of Mashriqu'l-Adhkárs, dawning points of praise and mention of God for all religionists will be built in the East and in the West, but this, being the first one erected in the Occident, has great importance. In the future there will be many here and elsewhere – in Asia, Europe, even in Africa, New Zealand and Australia – but this edifice in Chicago is of especial significance.

After His address, ‘Abdul’-Bahá and his listeners left the tent. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá asked that Nettie Tobin’s stone be placed at the center of the land. He was offered a golden trowel with which to carve out a resting place for the stone, but it was unable to dig through the turf. A young man ran to a nearby house and borrowed an ax, which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá used to cut into the earth. Another young man produced a shovel borrowed from a work crew about four blocks away. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá asked a Bahá'í woman named Lua Getsinger to turn the earth, followed by Corinne True. He then invited people of many races and nationalities to participate. When a large hole had been dug, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá gathered handfuls of dirt, which He gave to several people. Then He placed the stone in its spot, used the golden trowel to push the soil around it, and declared, “The Temple is already built.”

Sacrifices for the Fund
From 1912 through 1920, the Bahá'ís focused on raising money to complete payments on the property and acquire a fund adequate to begin construction. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá encouraged the Bahá'ís of the East to contribute. These gifts were often very small, perhaps a few pennies earned through the sale of a handkerchief or other small item. A Persian widow who supported her two children by knitting socks sent the profit from one sock of each pair to the Temple Fund. Larger contributions came from Bahá'ís who owned successful businesses in Bombay, India.

In August 1917, with the goal of a $200,000 construction fund less than halfway achieved, the Executive Board of the Bahá'í Temple Unity offered a sacrificial example:

 

With unchanging faith in the divine resolve of the American friends to make good their compact the members of the Executive Board here assembled . . . pledge one-ninth of all their possessions as of this date to the redemption of a portion of the balance yet remaining due.

 

Contributions from the Bahá'í community included stocks, liberty bonds, jewelry, and a $14,000 inheritance. An Ohio woman sent a twenty-five-cent piece on behalf of her late mother, who had been prevented by her husband from contributing during her lifetime. A successful musician arranged concerts for the fund and sent $1000 as a “war offering toward our Bahai Temple of Peace.”

When an American Bahá'í woman cut her hair and sold it for the Temple Fund, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wrote:

Consider ye, that though in the eyes of women nothing is more precious than rich and flowing locks, yet notwithstanding this, that highly-honored lady hath evinced so rare and beautiful a spirit of self-sacrifice.

And though this was uncalled for, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá would not have consented to such a deed, yet as it doth reveal so high and noble a spirit of devotion, He was deeply touched thereby. Precious though the hair be in the sight of western women, nay, more precious than life itself, yet she offered it up as a sacrifice for the cause of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár!

Louis Bourgeois
Louis Bourgeois’ quest to design the Bahá'í House of Worship was a long and arduous one. He reported feeling inspired to build a Temple even before he became a Bahá'í in about 1906:

I had a strong psychic feeling that the Christ spirit was astir in the world and that I should design the temple for this spirit. I had been something of an amateur astronomer and had thought with wonder of the beautiful spiral curves which the heavenly bodies trace in the sky as they circle the sun in their elliptical orbits that cut each other in different planes and that move forward as the whole solar system moves.

I was standing by the seaside, and, as an inspiration made me see how these pure mathematical lines of astronomy could be worked into designs of wonderful beauty, I traced in the sand of the seashore such figures as I have wrought into the dome of that temple...”

After Mr. Bourgeois’ design was selected, stories about the Temple were published in newspapers around the country and abroad. In one interview, he explained the philosophy underlying his work:

 

All the teachings that have held the minds of men and ennobled them are found to be very much alike in essence. The doctrines of Christ, of Buddha and of Mohammed greatly resemble each other. As with religions so it is with architecture. If you resolve the different architectural systems to their idealistic basis, laying aside all extreme forms, you will see that they harmonize so perfectly that they can be blended without one discordant note. That is what I have tried to do in the Temple of Peaceto combine all architectural modes into a symbol of the Bahai Movement.

In 1921, Mr. Bourgeois prepared large, full-scale drawings of the Temple ornamentation. The largest drawing, showing the great ribs of the dome, was 90 feet long. John Earley, who would later translate the drawings into concrete panels, described the architect’s unique method:

. . . Mr. Bourgeois stretched out on the floor a great sheet of paper and with his pencil tied to the end of a long stick he drew in great sweeps, in a manner never to be forgotten, the interlacing ornament of the dome. One line through another, under and over, onward and upward until the motif was completed. Never have I seen a greater feat of draftsmanship nor a more interesting draftsman than Mr. Bourgeois. Most surprising of all perhaps is the approximation to accuracy which he maintained in these drawings in spite of the disadvantages under which he worked. He was obliged to stand on the drawing which he was making and his only view of the whole was from the top of a step ladder.

Mr. Bourgeois constructed a studio and living quarters across the street from the Temple site at his own expense. He worked and lived there with his wife for the next several years. Though his health began to fail, he determinedly continued working on the Temple. On August 20, 1930, long before his great work was completed, he died at the age of 74. Memorial services were held in Foundation Hall and in other Bahá'í communities throughout North America. His studio home at 536 Sheridan Road later became the headquarters of the National Spiritual Assembly.

Shoghi Effendi
Shoghi Effendi, the grandson of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, was born in 1897 and raised in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s home in ‘Akká and later in Haifa, Israel. He was devoted to his Grandfather and eager to assist Him in serving the Bahá'í Faith. While attending Oxford University, the distressing news of his beloved Grandfather’s death reached him. Shortly afterwards, he learned that he had been named the head of the Bahá'í Faith in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Will and Testament.

Only twenty-four years old, Shoghi Effendi was devastated by the loss and overwhelmed by his immense responsibilities. However, after a period of mourning, he energetically embraced his new role. His life’s work included translating many of Bahá’u’lláh’s Writings into English, writing a definitive history of the first century of the Bahá'í Faith, assisting Bahá'í communities around the world in the formation of administrative bodies, developing plans for the growth of the Bahá'í Faith, and initiating the establishment of the Bahá'í World Center on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel.

Shoghi Effendi unfailingly encouraged the American Bahá'ís in their mission to build the Temple. In one of his early letters to the American Bahá'ís, he wrote:

Concerning the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, I shall always recall with pride and gratitude the self-sacrifice of the American friends. . . . I would feel indeed disheartened were the friends to think for a moment, that its work should fall into abeyance, nay, rather they should do all in their power (and I trust their fellow-brethren and sisters throughout the East may share in their stupendous efforts) to provide for the steady and uninterrupted progress of the work, until the day may come when this sublime Edifice, raised in its majestic splendor in the very heart of the continent, may be yet another evidence of the triumph and vitality of the Cause.