Staffers sign the new tower's final beam

The final beam that will be placed Thursday afternoon on the new tower at Cox South is now available for employees to sign. Staffers are stopping by the construction entrance all week to add their signatures to this piece of CoxHealth history.
Employees can sign the beam between 6 a.m. and 5 p.m. through Wednesday. The beam will be raised and placed during a “topping out” celebration at 2 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 25.

The custom of decorating the uppermost point of the structure with an evergreen tree predates the structural steel industry in America by hundreds of years and has old northern European roots.

Today, such ceremonies include hoisting the final piece of iron into place with a small evergreen tree and an American flag attached. The evergreen tree symbolizes a safe construction site and is said to serve as a good luck charm for the building’s future occupants.