40ˇ30'35.5"N 80ˇ00'56.6"W Pyramid Shape Monument Located on the slope of Rosemont United Cemetery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the "Pyramid Shape Monument"—as it is described in the programme for the 31 October 1921 convention of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society (IBSA)—was designed by John A. Bohnet of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, "and accepted by Russell". The project to erect the monument proceeded under the direction of Joseph Franklin Rutherford, the society's president. Bohnet was appointed a board member of the Watch Tower by Rutherford, after Russell's death. Russell's fascination with the Great Pyramid—unrelated to Freemasonry—is well known. "The capstone, itself a perfect pyramid, is patterned after the capstone of the Great Pyramid of Egypt, symbolic of the Christ." There is no evidence that early directors of the Watch Tower Society, R.J. Martin, Giovanni DeCecca, F.H. Robinson, C.J. Woodworth, and W.E. VanAmburg, or Rutherford appointees, Dr. W. E. Spill and J. A. Bohnet, of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Gerge H. Fisher, of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and A. H. Macmillan, of New York, were freemasons but the claim continues to be made that the monument—installed in 1919—is somehow masonic. It is also widely, and erroneously, mistaken for Russell's gravemarker, which is a short distance away. On 27 August 2021 there were online reports of vandalism occurring some months previous when the capstone was removed and the cross and crown emblems were damaged. The Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society removed the monument around noon on Wednesday, 1 September 2021—two months shy of a century after its installation. There were further online reports that the pieces were taken to a warehouse in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, in expectation of shipping to a storage facility in New York. CHARLES TAZE RUSSELL Souvenir Report of the Bible Students Convention, Pittsburgh, PA., January 2-5, 1919, p. 7. Also see: Joseph Franklin Rutherford, Harvest Siftings (1917). Memorial ID 5591. 226 Cemetery Lane, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, 15237 USA

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