The Compass and Square
The assumption common to most all anti-masonic conspiracies is that the Washington DC map has been laid out in the form of a pentagram, a compass and a square, all of which have been associated with Masonry. While the pentagram is easy to see, just north of the White House, the compass and square are a little less obvious, once you look closely at the map. On a website entitled The Masonic Conspiracy, we read: "Facing the Capitol from the Mall and using the Capitol building as the head or top of the Compass, the left leg is represented by Pennsylvania Ave. and the right leg, Maryland Ave. The Square is found in the usual Masonic position with the intersection of Canal St. and Louisiana Ave. The left leg of the Compass stands on the White House and the right leg stands on the Jefferson Memorial. The circle drive and short streets behind the building form the head and ears of what Satanists call the Goat Of Mendes or Goat's head!" This person is clearly confused, since the Goat's Head is depicted by the pentagram over the White House. The usual interpretation of the figure surrounding the Capitol Building, is that it depicts the owl of Minerva. Note that the author mentions the square being found in the usual position, meaning beneath the compass. As you can see below, while Pennsylvania Avenue does indeed extend to the White House, Maryland Avenue is in the process of being eliminated, and far from standing on the Jeff Mml, it is aimed to the north of it. Rather than Louisiana Ave and Canal St., we see the supposed compass being formed by Loiusisna and Washington Avenues, which do not meet. If you think about the scale of things in the map, it should occur to you that a compass with legs a mile and a half long, does not really fit very well with a square located where this one would be. In the image below, you can see that Louisiana Avenue was not in the original planning map, thereby negating the notion that the streets were laid out as a square in the planning map. The dark line is the old canal that was removed after the War Between the States. The following is taken from the 1901 McMillan Plan drawings, and the square is not indicated in this either. So we can say that the square, if it exists, was the result of late changes to the plan, and was not laid out in the planning map. Let's say, just for the sake of the arguement, we connect the lines of the supposed square (purple below). If you hold something that is actually square, like an index card up to one of the lines, you will see that they don't really form a 90 degree angle. HOME

The Compass and Square

The assumption common to most all anti-masonic conspiracies is that the Washington DC map has been laid out in the form of a pentagram, a compass and a square, all of which have been associated with Masonry. While the pentagram is easy to see, just north of the White House, the compass and square are a little less obvious, once you look closely at the map.
On a website entitled The Masonic Conspiracy, we read:
"Facing the Capitol from the Mall and using the Capitol building as the head or top of the Compass, the left leg is represented by Pennsylvania Ave. and the right leg, Maryland Ave. The Square is found in the usual Masonic position with the intersection of Canal St. and Louisiana Ave. The left leg of the Compass stands on the White House and the right leg stands on the Jefferson Memorial. The circle drive and short streets behind the building form the head and ears of what Satanists call the Goat Of Mendes or Goat's head!"
This person is clearly confused, since the Goat's Head is depicted by the pentagram over the White House. The usual interpretation of the figure surrounding the Capitol Building, is that it depicts the owl of Minerva.

Note that the author mentions the square being found in the usual position, meaning beneath the compass. As you can see below, while Pennsylvania Avenue does indeed extend to the White House, Maryland Avenue is in the process of being eliminated, and far from standing on the Jeff Mml, it is aimed to the north of it. Rather than Louisiana Ave and Canal St., we see the supposed compass being formed by Loiusisna and Washington Avenues, which do not meet.
If you think about the scale of things in the map, it should occur to you that a compass with legs a mile and a half long, does not really fit very well with a square located where this one would be.

In the image below, you can see that Louisiana Avenue was not in the original planning map, thereby negating the notion that the streets were laid out as a square in the planning map. The dark line is the old canal that was removed after the War Between the States.

The following is taken from the 1901 McMillan Plan drawings, and the square is not indicated in this either. So we can say that the square, if it exists, was the result of late changes to the plan, and was not laid out in the planning map.

Let's say, just for the sake of the arguement, we connect the lines of the supposed square (purple below). If you hold something that is actually square, like an index card up to one of the lines, you will see that they don't really form a 90 degree angle.

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