Speaking in Denver on June 16th

by Christopher Hodapp

I'll be speaking in Denver, Colorado at the Consistory of the Denver Scottish Rite Masonic Center on Monday, June 16th at 6:00PM. Really looking forward to it - the last time I was there for an event was back in 2009.

For more information and tickets, CLICK HERE.

Lodge Installs Flags For National Holidays

by Christopher Hodapp

It's one of those small-town traditions that casual passersby often notice, but likely never give a thought as to how they were put there or by whom:  the main street through downtown lined with fluttering U.S. flags in honor of the 4th of July, Memorial Day, Veterans' Day and other national holidays.

I came across a lodge's involvement with a community program last week quite by accident - a Letter To The Editor of the Chronicle-News in southeastern Colorado thanking local Freemasons for installing these flags in their town. According to the site's Facebook page, the Brethren of Trinidad Lodge 28 has been putting up the flags ever since 2007. 

A local couple donated 120 flags and the Masons take care of installing them and removing them after the holiday. City workers help when the installation requires more complex mounting, but the lodge members take on the bulk of the job.

Colorado Lodge Dedicates Idiosyncratic New Meeting Space

Photo: Bruce Hinde

by Christopher Hodapp

CORRECTION: I mistakenly thought the new building being used by Elk Mountain Lodge was a re-purposed grain storage silo. Brother David Moran tells me this is a brand new structure, and was never used as a silo. My apologies for jumping to conclusions.

On April 22nd, the Grand Lodge AF&AM of Colorado consecrated the new lodge hall of Elk Mountain Lodge 118 in one of the most unusual locations in the world — inside of a round, steel building that resembles a grain storage silo (photo above). 

Photo: WB David Moran

Photo: Elk Mountain Lodge Facebook page

Up until two years ago, their old lodge hall on the second floor at 111 Eighth Street in Steamboat Springs had served them well for almost a century, but the cost of upkeep and improvements continued to rise over the decades while their supporting membership shrank in size.  So Brother Ray Selbe, a member of Elk Mountain Lodge since the 1980's, came up with an innovative solution: a 900-square-foot loft area inside of a round, steel building on his ranch that houses his blacksmith shop and antique tool collection.

From an article on the Steamboat Pilot & Today website by John F. Russell:

Selbe, a practicing blacksmith, was building a shop where he could properly display a collection of blacksmithing tools he has been accumulating for several years. When the topic of the lodge needing a new location came up, he offered to build a mezzanine where the members could meet.

“We were building a new blacksmith shop, and suddenly we needed a place for the lodge,” Selbe said. “So we built a mezzanine level in the new blacksmith shop for the lodge.”

The new Elk Mountain Masonic Lodge is located above Selbe’s shop on his ranch located at 25245 County Road 42. The 900-square-foot lodge is built on the mezzanine level of the 1,800-square-foot blacksmith shop.

[snip]

The completion of the lodge put a smile on Selbe’s face not only because it gave the Masons a new place to meet, but because it ensures the organization still has a home in Steamboat Springs.

“My grandfather and my dad and uncles were all Masons — it was a family tradition, I guess,” Selbe said. “There were a lot of memories in that downtown location, but now we’ll make new memories.”

Photo: Elk Mountain Lodge Facebook page

Photo: Elk Mountain Lodge Facebook page

Like so many lodges, Elk Mountain began life downtown in their hometown of Steamboat Springs, Colorado. They were granted dispensation in 1902 and received their charter in 1904. 

Elk Mountain 118's former downtown lodge hall in Steamboat Springs
(Photo: Google Maps)

But Elk Mountain's new, modern lodge room is truly unique for the 21st century. For many years, these distinctive agricultural vessels have been converted into innovative homes and vacation cabins, but this is the first one I've ever encountered being turned into a Masonic temple. 

*   *   *

Read the histories of Masonic grand lodges throughout America over the centuries and you'll encounter countless stories of lodges meeting in unusual places like caves, above general stores, in barns, attic loft areas of log cabins — anywhere that could be successfully tyled, away from prying eyes and snoopy eavesdroppers. In Indiana we had two lodges that began life meeting on the top floors of operating grist mills in the 1800s: Millersville Lodge 126 and Wild Cat Lodge 311. (Adams Mill in tiny Cutler, Indiana is a museum today and area Masons have set up a historical re-creation of the original meeting space of Wild Cat Lodge No. 311 for the public to see and for our lodges to use.)

1864-era Masonic lodge room re-creation on top floor
of Adam's Mill, Cutler, Indiana.

Roundup of Vandalism and Damage to Masonic Halls During Week of Protests

Authorities guarding the area around Boston's Masonic Temple

by Christopher Hodapp

A string of reports are coming in about several Masonic buildings suffering damage or vandalism this week. Some are related to the ongoing protests and riots in the wake of the George Floyd death in Minneapolis, but others clearly are not. But what is remarkable is that, despite the widespread historic location of Masonic halls in downtown areas across the country and the high levels of damage for a week now in many cities, very few incidents of vandalism against Masonic buildings have been reported. It's highly probable that some have not been actively reported, but here is what I have discovered thus far:

Over the last weekend, graffiti was sprayed on Denver's downtown Masonic Center, home to several lodges and the Scottish Rite – the news reported that some protestors were seen attempting to clean off the slogans. 

Several Masons reported 'hunkered down' at the downtown Tucson, Arizona Masonic hall on the second night of protests after its windows were smashed the night before. 

Windows and door broken at Ft. Wayne, Indiana Masonic Temple

The downtown Masonic Temple in Fort Wayne, Indiana had several windows broken out.

Entrance to Paul Revere Restaurant in Boston's Masonic Temple

Boston's Masonic Temple, home of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts sits on Tremont Street in downtown Boston. It became the epicenter of several nights of protests and demonstrations.  In a Facebook video assuring his members, Grand Master Richard Maggio gave a shoutout to David Harty and the Grand Lodge security team. The building's ground floor windows were boarded up, and neither the Masonic areas nor the new Paul Revere restaurant received any damage or vandalism, apart from a spray painted slogan on the plywood.

Washington's House of the Temple Vandalized

Arturo De Hoyos reports that the Scottish Rite - SJ headquarters, the House of the Temple on 16th Street in Washington, D.C. was vandalized during the demonstrations on Tuesday evening. The large, iconic sphinxes out front were reportedly doused with paint, and the building was defaced with graffiti. Prior to Tuesday night, it had escaped any vandalism or damage during the recent demonstrations.

A short video clip on Twitter showed one of the protesters spray painting on the wall.

Damage to Raleigh, NC Prince Hall Lodge 

The 1906 Prince Hall Masonic temple owned by Excelsior Lodge 21 and Widow Son Lodge 4 in Raleigh, North Carolina had its windows shattered by protestors on Saturday night. The shops and Chapter Room on the first floor were damaged.

According to lodge Trustee Steven Melton on Facebook,

"We have 4 black businesses that rent from us they were vandalized, we are one of the few black owned buildings downtown but it didn't matter to those looking to do damage... We still rent the 1st floor to local businesses, the 2nd floor for social events,community programs and Excelsior Lodge #21, Widow's Son Lodge #4 and Mentor Lodge #55 still meet on the 3rd floor every month. The area surrounding the lodge has been renamed The Prince Hall District and the [building] has been declared a historic building.

Prince Hall Lodge Burns in Asheville, North Carolina 

In the Shiloh community of Asheville, North Carolina, fire gutted the Masonic Hall at Caribou Road and Booker Streets. 

According to a report on 13WLOS-TV, it had been home to Venus Lodge 62, the first African-American Masonic lodge in Asheville. Built by the lodge in the 1970s, the building had been empty for the last few years, pending renovation. 

Originating on Eagle Street in downtown Asheville, Venus Lodge No. 62 was the city's first black Masonic Lodge group.
Where blackened rubble stands on Booker Street, Ronald Scott pictures years of events, from cookouts to scholarship fundraisers, that brought folks together.

"Very disheartened and sad. Unbelievable," said Scott, who's the lodge master.

He hoped to renovate the structure, which had been unused for some seven years since another fire caused extensive damage. 

Fire officials are still investigating the cause. The surrounding neighborhood in Shiloh had no demonstration or protest activity, so this may be completely unrelated.

While not in this location, the lodge continues to meet. Venus Lodge 62 is chartered by the MW Prince Hall Grand Lodge of North Carolina.

An online Facebook fundraising campaign has been established to help rebuild their Masonic hall. CLICK HERE to donate.

Grand Master of Pennsylvania Issues Statement After Franklin and Washington Statues Were Vandalized Saturday

As reported previously, after the bronze sculptures of Brothers Benjamin Franklin and George Washington outside of Philadelphia's Masonic Temple were sprayed with graffiti Saturday night, Masons quickly arrived and cleaned them off again. Grand Master Thomas Gamon, IV gratefully acknowledged their speedy work in a formal announcement:

Thanks to Brother Ryan Steele for identifying the members of the crew.

LtoR: Paul Roth/University Lodge No. 51, John Mosco/51, Jason Fugarino/ Richmond-Solomon Lodge No. 3, Daniel Rivers/Athelstan-Lamberton Lodge No. 482, Ed Clifford, PM/51; 

not pictured/taking the picture - Mike Comfort, PM/Melita Lodge No. 295

UPDATE Friday June 5, 2020:

One final note on Philadelphia. Several message boards circulated vague reports that the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania's Masonic hall and headquarters building on Broad Street had sustained damage, and even that it had been set on fire. It was reported later that a car had been set on fire immediately adjacent to the building, but that the Masonic hall itself sustained no damage.

Colorado's Ghost Town Lodge

The rich heritage of American Freemasonry as it expanded westward throughout the 19th century can still be found carefully preserved around the country - usually in unusual places. There is a great story today on the Colorado Public Radio website about Colorado's historic Nevada Lodge No. 4, which still operates as a working lodge today in the ghost town of Nevadaville.

From 'Why Freemasons Still Lurk In The Ghost Town Of Nevadaville, Colorado' by Natasha Watts:

If you take exit 243 off Interstate 70, you’re most likely headed for the glittery casinos of Central City and Black Hawk. But make a wrong turn on your way up the mountain, and you may end up in a ghost town.

In the 1800s, Nevadaville, Colorado bustled with gold miners. Today, only a few buildings stand, relics of the Old West version of our state that’s hard to find anymore. An old trading post, a saloon and a tiny town hall dot the dusty main drag.

You’ll also find some Freemasons.

Once a month, they converge upon Nevadaville to practice their rituals in a building built by brothers from another time.

[snip]

There are just under two million Masons in America. The basic unit of Masonry is the Lodge, which is what the group that meets in Nevadaville is called: Nevada Lodge #4.

Colorado’s only ghost town lodge was built in the 1870s. It’s still around today thanks to the efforts of Masons through the decades to preserve this piece of history. The lodge meeting room still possesses the original wallpaper and wainscoting, according to Patrick Dey, Worshipful Master of Nevada Lodge #4. (The lofty-sounding title basically means he’s the current elected leader of the group.)

Dey says the lodge room in Nevadaville has impressed many an outsider, including members of other local lodges who come to the ghost town for initiation. Typically pledges are led in blindfolded, and “when it comes off... I always hear them go, ‘wow.’ Just to be in that room during that is such an experience.”

For Nevadaville miners in the late 1800s, Masonic membership was something to aspire to. Back then, Dey says dues were $4 a year. The average miner made $1 a week, so that constituted a month’s wages.

Being a lodge member gave a man wealth and status, as well as an assurance that his brethren would help pay for medical needs or after-death expenses. Think of it as Old West health and life insurance.

Brothers still help each other monetarily as needed, but Dey says the main draw now is old fashioned, face-to-face connection — something hard to find in the digital age.

“Up here in Nevadaville, we don’t get good cell phone reception, so you don’t have to worry about guys sitting there playing on their phones in lodge...” Dey says. “So hang out, enjoy yourself. You’re in a ghost town!”

An architectural designer by day, Dey is obviously passionate about the preservation of the building. He and his brothers come up frequently to do restoration work. Sometimes, when they stay late, they’ll sleep overnight in the old building. To him, it feels like communing with the past...

READ THE REST (or listen to the radio version) HERE

Colorado's Nevada Lodge 4 was established in 1861 in the mountains west of Denver. For more information about the lodge and its meetings, check the website HERE.

If you're traveling in Colorado there are a wealth of Masonic historic sightseeing possibilities:

•Denver Lodge No. 5 - Colorado's oldest chartered lodge (1859). Meets in beautiful Denver Masonic Hall (b. 1889) at 16th and Welton Streets. Red sandstone exterior building was gutted by fire in 1984, and completely rebuilt inside.

•Denver Airport - the conspiracy lovers' dream. Masonic dedication marker and time capsule in main passenger terminal, creepy murals (by artist Leo Tanguma), swastika runways, underground tunnels, 'alien' vocabulary embedded in the floor, Satanic blue horse sculpture - it's all there, and more.

•Fairplay - Lodge Room Over Simpkin's Store (South Park City Historical Site, 100 4th Street, Fairplay, CO)

•Leadville - Corinthian Lodge No. 35 (b.1910; chartered 1882), highest altitude active US lodge (10,152 ft).

•Pike's Peak Cryptic Masonic Monument

Looking For Help Outside the Lodge To Save Your Temple

Rifle Lodge 126 in Rifle, Colorado (just down the road apiece from the town of Parachute) has been working with the Colorado Historical Society and their town council to help preserve their century-old lodge.

You gotta love Western U.S. town names.

For more than ten years, Brother Ron Roesener and others at Rifle Lodge have been dealing with the same problems so many other Masons have throughout the country. Shrinking membership, tighter money, and an aging building have all combined to take their toll on their Masonic hall that has been central to their town ever since 1914.

An article on the Post Independent website on Wednesday by reporter Kyle Mills interviewed Brother Roesener and explains his innovative hunt for resources outside the lodge for the last decade. It's well worth reading:

“
One step into the Masonic Lodge on Railroad Avenue is like a trip back in time, turning the clock back decades.

Craftsmanship and ornate wood details surround the old stairway and wrap-around the doorways. Two large classic Westinghouse stoves fill the small kitchen on the main floor.

For nearly a decade now Ron Roesener, a 32nd Degree Mason from Parachute, has been working to save the home to the Freemason Lodge No. 129 in Rifle.

[snip]

Roesener said at one point in time the lodge had 378 members.

“We currently have about 50 members, a lot of whom are in nursing homes right now,” Roesener said. “We have enough that we can have bi-monthly meetings.”

With membership dipping over the years the lodge, which operates with the help of membership dues, has not been able to keep up with regular repairs.
Like many structures that are over a century old the building that houses the Masonic Lodge has fallen on hard time and is in need of updating and restoration.

“All the background and historical work I’ve done on it, at one time we owned most of the block the building is on,” Roesener said. “Having been opened in 1914 and in use since then on a regular basis, there has never been a time when it was shut down.”

A fourth-generation freemason, Roesener considers this a passion project.
He fought for two years to get historical recognition of the building from the city of Rifle.

Roesener is currently working with the Colorado Historical Society to secure grants to help with the project...

„  

Read the whole article HERE.

When our lodge halls have had such a preeminent place in a community for so long, our Masonic halls eventually become much more than just a crumbling old clubhouse where the cranky old men hang out once a month. Our walls often are filled with rarely seen photos of the most important and influential men from our communities - frequently the very men who founded and built our towns in the first place. Our records contain treasure troves for genealogists and historians alike. Frequently, our architecture is historically significant and well-preserved. Because of our infamous resistance to change, our rooms are often a time capsule of bygone days that have otherwise disappeared from the landscape. 

Consequently, more and more historical and preservation societies are coming to the realization that the loss of a Masonic lodge means the loss of something so vital to preserving the fabric of their communities.

Downtown Rifle, Colorado

The Rifle Lodge and Brother Roesner make a perfect example. Thanks to his efforts, according to the article, the Colorado Historical Society has given the lodge $69,000 in preservation grants, and the county commissioners have kicked in another $10,000 from their discretionary funds. 

For too long, we Masons have felt we can still do all this on our own until reality sets in and we discover the financial aspect of preserving an old lodge can be crushing. Especially if there were never any plans for the future. More lodges are deciding that it's not demeaning to go outside of the fraternity to help save the shared heritage of a lodge and the community in which it resides.

But as brethren who have gone in search of grants will tell you, it takes time, work, and most of all, building relationships with vast numbers of people who have only a vague idea of who the Masons are anymore. Most know we are somehow 'important' and 'have always been there', and many may know their grandfather or other family members were Masons. But you may find resistance from some donors and foundations who have their own personal quirks and objections to the fraternity. That means the brethren who represent your lodge on these missions need to be knowledgeable, respectful, personable, dogged, and most of all, impervious to hurt feelings when doors slam or phones hang up abruptly. Not just anyone can do it. And they need to arrive with a businesslike plan for the money they're asking for, not just "We're short of cash for the roof." That stuff closes out of town.

Most important is that we as Masons need to get back into the habit again of asking our own brethren for financial help for the lodge from ourselves - before we look elsewhere. Peer into your lodge records and you will find countless times in the past that a Brother left money or property to your lodge in his will, or made a large gift to the lodge to handle a big-ticket expense. A century ago it was as common as a case of the DTs. Brethren lined up to support the building of new Masonic temples left and right, all the way up through the '29 Depression and beyond - and they built magnificent ones for the Ages that we still have now, but are losing quickly. Unfortunately, you'd be hard pressed today to find such gifts or bequests in more than a handful of lodges in your state. That's because we stopped asking our own members and let our industrial-sized charities within the fraternity and appendant bodies overtake the responsibilities we have for our Mother lodge, first and foremost.

What's important when we DO go looking for financial support within or without our own membership is that we make sure we aren't just asking for spare cash to heat the lodge for a once-a-month meeting of cheap old men who never venture out into the neighborhood and take part in civic life anymore. If we want the help of our towns and local foundations and non-Masonic donors, they need something from us in return. They need to know that the lodge isn't just our private clubhouse and that we were just too cheap to pay to replace our own carpet for ourselves. Open your lodge to your community - for youth groups, social organizations, health fairs, weight loss groups, dance lessons, English classes for new immigrants, weekend swap meets and yard sales, blood drives, pitch-in suppers and cookouts, day-lounge for seniors, or anything else you can think of. 

Welcome the whole community into your lodge, and soon you will find that they take ownership of it in their hearts, too. 

They might just join the lodge. 

And they might just decide the Masons and their hall are too vital to risk losing after all.

Grand Lodge of Colorado Museum Goes Traveling

The Grand Lodge of Colorado AF&AM's Library & Musum is located at the GLs building in Colorado Springs, but a portion of its collection is hitting the road this year. The program is a part of the 150th anniversary celebration of the establishment of Freemasonry in Colorado.

Currently, the display is at the Sterling Public Library, and is sponsored by the lodge in Sterling.

From the Journal Advocate website, "Historic display marks Masons' milestone" by Callie Jones:

Items on display include a walking stick made by William and James Dunlap and carried by Abraham Lincoln, who carved his monogram on the silver head during his 1960 campaign against Stephan Douglas, and a violin owned by Jefferson. The violin was manufactured between the late 1700s and early 1800s and is inscribed "TJ 1824."

There is also information about Masonic United States presidents. Between 14 and 16 presidents were Freemasons, beginning with George Washington and ending with Gerald Ford.

Lincoln was not a Freemason but he maintained the highest level of respect for the institution. He petitioned Tyrian Lodge in Springfield, Ill., for membership shortly before his nomination for presidency in 1860, but withdrew his application for membership because he did not want to win the election because he was a Mason. He planned on reapplying for membership after his presidency.

Jefferson was believed to be active Mason during his life; however, little record of his Masonic activities exists.
Other items on display include a Civil War bone pipe carved by a prisoner of war during the Civil War, a letter from George Washington to the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, a picture of Theodore Roosevelt in Masonic dress and a variety of Past Grand Master and Past Master jewels and Grand Lodge officer pins, among other things.

There is also information about the first cornerstone in Colorado, which was laid by the Grand Lodge of Colorado Territory, for the depot of the Denver Pacific Railway Company.

The Colorado program is a unique way to bring Masonry and its history into local communities. The exhibit began touring the state in July 2010 and runs through December of 2011, lasting four to six weeks in each location. Any Colorado lodge that can provide suitable facilities and level of security (an alarm system is required) is eligible to receive the Museum's traveling exhibit.

[NOTE: There is actually no evidence whatsoever that Thomas Jefferson was a Freemason, even though his membership in the fraternity has been claimed off and on many times. There is the distant possibility that he joined the Lodge of the Nine Muses in Paris, but it has never been substantiated, nor have any records been found to definitively link him to Charlottesville, Virginia lodges. Still, many of his closest friends were brethren, as were his son-in-law Thomas M. Randolph, and his favorite grandson, Thomas Jefferson Randolph. And the Grand Lodge of South Carolina held a funeral procession in his honor. Enough question exists that the claim persists. CH]