Fire at Indiana Masonic Home’s Compass Park: Construction Destroyed, But Residents Safe

Photo: City of Franklin Fire Dept.

by Christopher Hodapp

On the morning of Friday, April 10, 2026, just after 5:00 a.m., a large fire broke out at the Indiana Masonic Home at Compass Park in Franklin, Indiana. The blaze rapidly engulfed Young’s Creek II, a 39-unit apartment building under construction as part of the campus expansion. The building was unoccupied at the time and just 100 days from opening.

It's been declared a total loss, with damages estimated to exceed $20 million.

Credit: WTHR-13 Video

In an interview with WTHR-TV13, Franklin Fire Chief Joshua Snyder described it as “the largest fire I’ve seen in my 20-year career in Franklin,” and possibly the biggest in the city in decades. Approximately 60 firefighters from 11 departments across Johnson County (including Franklin, Bargersville, Edinburgh, Greenwood, and Whiteland) responded. It took about two and a half hours to bring the fire under control, with crews coming back over the weekend to battle continuing hot spots. The state fire marshal is assisting with the investigation, which could take two to three months.

Cause has not yet been determined but is not considered suspicious at this time.

Thankfully, there were no injuries to residents, staff, or emergency personnel. While the fire primarily destroyed the new construction, smoke and water damage affected the occupied building, prompting a precautionary evacuation of about 55 residents. But thankfully, the firewall separating the two buildings did its job and stopped the spread - things could have been much, much worse. Mike Spencer, CEO of Compass Park, noted that staff safely evacuated residents from the adjoining Young’s Creek Phase I building in just 17 minutes—thanks to monthly fire drills and emergency training. Three staff members were checked for smoke inhalation and released. 

Kudos to Mike and his staff, who executed a calm, quick and efficient evacuation. 

In the official statement from Compass Park, the Masonic Home expressed deep gratitude for the swift multi-agency response and the overwhelming support from the Franklin community and Brothers across the jurisdiction:

“We have received an outpouring of support from the Franklin community and Brothers from around the jurisdiction. We couldn’t be more grateful for everyone’s willingness to be helpful.”

Most of the destroyed apartments in Young's Creek II had been pre-sold. With move-in day a little more than 3 months away, more than a few of those folks anticipated the move by selling their existing homes already, or scheduling their closings. Now, 39 families have to make new arrangements pretty quickly.

The destroyed building was adjacent to occupied housing, so the immediate focus has been on caring for the displaced residents. Many are staying with family, while others are being put up in nearby hotels. Compass Park is providing transportation for meals, activities, and services. The statement emphasizes that in moments like this, the greatest challenges are often personal rather than structural. 

The statement continued:

“Our immediate priority must be to care for these Brothers, Sisters, and residents and ensure their basic needs are met… Support given now plays a vital role in restoring stability and peace of mind for residents during a period of sudden turbulence.”

Donations are being requested to help cover temporary housing, food, water, transportation, and other essential needs as circumstances evolve. This weekend coincided with the Annual Assembly of the Grand Council of Cryptic Masons of Indiana. During that event, more than $5600 was quickly collected for the relief of the displaced residents of Compass Park.

Updates on the investigation and rebuilding efforts will be shared as they become available.

How You Can Help 

Brethren are encouraged to keep the Compass Park community in their thoughts and prayers as they work through this challenge together. If you’d like to support the residents of Compass Park, donations for temporary housing, meals, and essentials can be directed through the official channels of the Indiana Masonic Home. 

The Indiana Masonic Home Foundation has coordinated with leadership at Compass Park and have agreed that during this challenging period donations for fire-related recovery should be sent directly to:

Compass Park
c/o Mike Spencer
690 State Street
Franklin, IN 46131

This ensures funds go immediately where they are needed most during this time.

They have also set up an official direct donations page via Square. CLICK HERE to donate online.

'12 Mighty Orphans' Tells Story of Texas Masonic Home Football Team

by Christopher Hodapp

A new movie released this month tells the story of a very special group of boys during the 1930s at the Masonic Home of Texas and the dedicated men and women who helped to raise and mentor them. 12 Mighty Orphans stars Luke Wilson and Martin Sheen in a true (albeit highly fictionalized) story of the 'Mighty Mites' a football team made up of Masonic Home orphans in Fort Worth who beat all the odds and make it to the Texas state championship during the thick of the Great Depression in the 1930s. 

The Masonic Home and School of Texas in Fort Worth was opened to Masons, widows and orphans in 1889, and remained in operation until 2005. The movie is based on former Masonic Home orphan Jim Dent's book of the same name.

From Movieinsider.com:

12 MIGHTY ORPHANS tells the true story of the Mighty Mites, the football team of a Fort Worth orphanage who, during the Great Depression, went from playing without shoes—or even a football—to playing for the Texas state championships. Over the course of their winning season these underdogs and their resilient spirit became an inspiration to their city, state, and an entire nation in need of a rebound, even catching the attention of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The architect of their success was Rusty Russell, a legendary high school coach who shocked his colleagues by giving up a privileged position so he could teach and coach at an orphanage. Few knew Rusty's secret: that he himself was an orphan. Recognizing that his scrawny players couldn't beat the other teams with brawn, Rusty developed innovative strategies that would come to define modern football.

After the Civil War up until the end of the last century, Masonic grand lodges all over the country constructed and operated retirement homes for their members and widows, and many of these facilities also included orphanages. Masonic orphanages weren't just reserved for children of Freemasons who had no living relatives. Often it was a case of a destitute family that couldn't afford to care for their own children, or parents who had to travel or relocate around the country in order to find work. During the Depression, lots of these Masonic homes had so many children to care for that they would establish their own schools on the campus.

12 Mighty Orphans opened in theaters on June 11th. I haven't seen it yet, so I don't know how much the story of the Masonic Home or Masonry itself gets told. Curiously, the movie trailer and official press releases only refer to an "orphanage" without mentioning the Masons. And the only visual clue in the trailer is a sunrise shot over the Masonic Home's water tower with Fort Worth in the Distance. 

Every picture like this needs a villain. The 'bad guy' of this one is the greedy manager of the Home's for-profit printing shop (described as a one-dimensional part played by the typically one-dimensional Wayne Knight) who spends the movie carping that "Every minute those kids are on the field, we're losing money!" Larger Masonic Homes with orphanages were often located out in the country and were pretty self-contained in their earlier days. They often had their own working farms on which they raised cattle and chickens for their dairy needs, and the Home kids were usually required to help with the farm work. But more than a few Masonic Homes really did have their own for-profit printing shops. Masonic grand lodges published their own magazines, printed up their own reams of rule books, annual proceedings, dues cards, lodge histories, and much more. Grand lodges were awash in their own seas of bureaucratic paperwork, so it made sense to operate an in-house print shop, with the Masonic Home boys learning the printing trade.

Reviews of 12 Mighty Orphans are encouragingly positive, which is surprising in the age of snark in which we find ourselves. While it seems to follow the usual sports movie formula of 'underdogs without a chance beating all the odds and becoming champs with the help of a grizzled coach and mentor ' (like Hoosiers did with basketball), the truth is that it's the sort of inspiring story that doesn't get told very often anymore and actually makes you feel good when you leave the theater. After more than a year of COVID isolation, there's a lot to be said for having two hours of inspiring and uplifting storytelling.

UPDATE 6/27/2021 11:50AM:

The venerable Robert Duvall has a very brief cameo in 12 Mighty Orphans, and he was on Steven Colbert's late-night talk show on Thursday. They talked about the new movie, and Colbert mentioned the story is about an orphanage. Duval emphatically corrected him, saying, "MASONIC orphanage." 

At one point Colbert asked him point-blank, "Are you a Mason?" and Duval answered "No." 

Then Colbert asked, "Do you believe in secrecy?" and Duval answered "Yes."

But I did find it a bit sad that Duvall, at the age of 90, said he really didn't know much about the Masons. Yet he was born in 1931 and was an adult at the time of U.S. Masonry's greatest popularity. 

GL of New York Issues Statement About New Rochelle Campus Purchase

On Monday, a New York bankruptcy court approved the $32 million bid by the Grand Lodge of New York's Trustees for the purchase of the former 15.6 acre campus of the College of New Rochelle. In the wake of that official acceptance by the court, New York's Grand Master William M. Sardone has issued a statement to their membership concerning the purchase.

According to his message (above - click to enlarge), the Trustees have been searching for some time for a suitable site closer to the Metropolitan New York City area in order to bring some of the services currently available at their Masonic Care Center in Utica much closer to Masons in the city. When the college campus suddenly became available, the Trustees saw this as an opportunity to do just that, as well as provide wellness services to the wider community. 

(Like most Masonic retirement and medical centers, the development in the last several years of accepting Medicare and Medicaid payments required them to open up to the public at large, not just for members and their families anymore.)

It should be noted that the Trustees are a separate entity from the Grand Lodge of New York itself. In addition to being the actual owners of the Grand Lodge's W. 23rd Street New York City headquarters,the Trustees of the Masonic Hall and Asylum Fund currently operate the Masonic Care Community in Utica, along with Camp Turk, and the DeWint House, George Washington's Headquarters and historic site in Tappan.

The former campus of the College of New Rochelle is now owned by New York Masons

The campus is located about 16 miles north of Manhattan in suburban Westchester County. 

For more details about the campus and its current facilities, see New York Masons Buy 15 Acre College Campus.

New York Masons Buy 15 Acre College Campus

The Grand Lodge F&AM of New York's Trustees of the Masonic Hall and Asylum Fund are the proud new owners of the 15.6 acre campus of the now former College of New Rochelle. The Catholic college was forced to close last year and liquidate its property after declaring bankruptcy with more than $31.2 million in debts and unpaid payroll taxes.

According to press reports over the weekend, the Masonic Trustees' $32 million bid beat out two others for the property after eight rounds of bidding over two days last week.

Press speculation is that they purchased the college campus to create a new retirement community and nursing facility, as that is their primary mission in Utica. However, the Trustees have not yet made a public announcement concerning their plans for New Rochelle. In addition to being the owners of the Grand Lodge's W. 23rd Street New York City headquarters, the Trustees operate the Masonic Care Community in Utica, along with Camp Turk, and the DeWint House, George Washington's Headquarters and historic site in Tappan. 

The campus sits about 16 miles north of Manhattan in suburban Westchester County. If the trustees really are planning a new Masonic retirement community, the location would certainly be ideal for their members concentrated in New York City. Moreover, there are already many facilities already constructed and up to date that could easily be adapted for that use. 

A map of the CNR campus illustrates what the
Grand Lodge of New York Trustees just bought

If ever an ideal property existed for conversion to a retirement center, this sounds like it. According to the Wikipedia entry about the campus facilities, there are 20 main buildings including a recently built $28M athletic and recreational complex. 

The Wellness Center

'The Wellness Center' is equipped with a competition-sized swimming pool, basketball court, fitness center, indoor running track, yoga studio, roof garden and meditation garden, and volleyball court. 

The Gill Memorial Library at New Rochelle College - might this be the
future home of the Chancellor Robert R Livingston Masonic Library?

There is a very large library capable of housing 200,000 books, and an up to date facility that houses computer and photo labs, complete with a full TV production studio. There are also four residence halls, plus a resource center designed for training nurses. Most Masonic retirement communities feature a chapel, and there is a beautiful church already in place on the campus, the Holy Family Chapel.

At the head of the campus sits historic Leland Castle, a circa 1850 gothic revival mansion and former vacation home of wealthy New York hotelier Simeon Leland. It is the cornerstone building of the college and was the first structure acquired when the college was first opened.

Leland Castle

To get all of this in Westchester County for $32 million sounds like an amazing investment with endless possibilities for the future.

There's a certain stage irony to the new Masonic ownership of the campus. The college originally began life in 1904 as the College of St. Angela, the first Catholic women's college in New York State. I suspect the founding Ursuline sisters are spinning in their graves at high speed now.

The College of New Rochelle entered into an agreement this year with Mercy College, which is absorbing the bankrupt school's records and transitioning students into their program. Mercy College is currently leasing the CNR property for $1.8 million until the end of the 2020 school year. 

(Photos culled from the New York Times, Wikipedia, and the CNR website)