Your city so far famed for its intimate association with the history of the rise of the Mashreq’ul-Azkar will, I trust, witness in the not distant future while this majestic Structure is being raised a swift regeneration in the spiritual lives of its inhabitants, that it may become truly the throbbing centre of Baha’i activities throughout the land.
We all look forward with eager hearts to the time when this noble Edifice, with all its various accessories completed, will become the focal centre of spiritual, humanitarian and intellectual achievements to which the friends of that city, the pioneers of such a glorious work, will have a distinct share to contribute.
(Shoghi Effendi, excerpt from a letter dated December 29, 1922 to Baha’is of Chicago; Star of the West, Vol. 13, March 1923) (To see the entire letter please visit Messages to the Baha’i World)