The Masons moved out of the building many years ago as lodge memberships diminished and downtowns deteriorated in the late 1960s, and the Temple building became the Cooley Law School in the 1970s. The school vacated in 2001, but this announcement will breathe new life back to the historic building.
It would be nice if local Masons could participate when the new City Hall is dedicated, maybe with a new dedication stone. And even better if one of the lodge rooms survived well enough to get dispensation and hold an occasional degree there.
When Masonic buildings are "up for grabs", surely reserving some space for lodges is not an impossible obstacle to real estate deals. Since lodges meet monthly or even weekly, the space still has large gaps for other use. We simply have not been smart about many of these deals. An imposing building downtown is part of the attraction rather than a concrete block nondescript hut, even if mostly put to other uses. It is sad how much of our architectural heritage has been liquidated.
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