When the first cornerstone was placed on Town Hill on Aug. 20, 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt arrived by presidential yacht for the ceremony. He was welcomed by "an immense fleet of yachts," according to the front-page coverage in the Boston Daily Globe. The crowds "cheered vociferously," the Globe reported. Roosevelt spoke for an hour and five minutes, vowing to punish financial wrongdoers in an era of widespread economic difficulty, a speech which the Globe reprinted word-for-word.
Being longwinded saved TR's life. Little historic trivia.
After two terms, TR stepped down, but in either 1912 or 1916 he was running as a third party as a "Bull Moose". He was on his way to deliver a speech, when a would-be assassin stepped out of the crowd and fired a shot which struck TR right in the chest---and was stopped by the manuscript of his speech in his inside jacket pocket. The manuscript was about 4" thick
