Published: November 21, 2009 10:11 pm         

Freemasons open doors for membership inquiries and tours of lodges

About 2,500 Freemasons use Terre Haute Masonic Temple

TERRE HAUTE — Ornate doors to ancient works were opened wide on Saturday.

“It’s the greatest fraternity the world’s ever known,” Jerry Burns said inside the Terre Haute Masonic Temple, offering tours and answering questions about a society with secrets that wants the public to visit.

Almost 70 lodges throughout Indiana were opened from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday as part of the state-wide Grand Masters Open House Program. Freemasons representing numerous affiliate organizations were on hand to answer questions and explain their work. With roots in the stone masonry guilds which labored on King Solomon’s temple, the international fraternity of Freemasonry is one with an aim to improve its members through moral instruction via allegory and history.

Located at 224 N. Eighth St. across from Hulman Center, the Terre Haute Masonic Temple bears a plaque denoting its membership in the National Register of Historic Places. And Burns was quick to point out the many reasons why.

Inside one of the first floor’s sitting rooms, the antique furniture of Alexander McGregor is on display and used with regularity. McGregor purchased what would become McGregor and Co. Distillers in 1850, becoming one of the area’s wealthy 19th century industrialists. The dining room table, book shelves, chairs and other ornate pieces all date back to about 1870, Burns said.

Up marble stairs and past dozens of stained glass windows, candlestick holders bought in 1893 are still used for ceremonies. Resting in glass cases are gold-plated swords for ritual use, with the names of the men who donated them hanging above like their street signs throughout town, including among others: George Farrington, Francis Crawford, John Cruft and Charles Cruft.

“It’s a veritable who’s who of Terre Haute history,” Matt Lowe, a Past Master of Riley No. 390 and current Commander of the Commandry, said of the sword collection’s legacy.

Burns, a 33rd Degree Master Mason, Past Master of Social Lodge No. 86 and member of both York Rite and Scottish Rite, proudly showed off “setting mauls” still used in the same room in which they were brought at the building’s completion in 1917. In other rooms, gavels adorn the working tables of Masonic officers.

Terre Haute Lodge No. 19 was first dispensated in 1819, Lowe said. “So Freemasonry in Terre Haute is almost 200 years old.”

The building on North Eighth Street in which about 2,500 Masons of different organizations participate was launched in November 1915, Burns said, noting it was completed July 9, 1917. Due to fires which had ravaged the city at the time, the Masonic Temple was constructed without structural wood. Layers of brick and stone, and wiring all done in conduit, leave little chance for fire damage.

The cost of construction was $150,000. Burns pointed out that men working in Terre Haute’s stamping mill were paid 10 cents an hour that year — $208 a year given a modern 40-hour work week — noting the size of the sum for the times. The building, which contains 50 rooms, could be expanded to 12 stories without compromising its structure, he added.

But inside, as visitors walked about on tours, it was the artwork they seemed to notice. Burns produced hand-painted, glass slides used in an antique projector for instructional displays against the wall. Crafted in 1920, they’re irreplaceable, he said.

Members now, Burns said, appreciate the value of the history. Much work goes into preserving the past traditions, from the ornate artwork, alters and chairs, to the memorized speeches and vignettes members perform in the same manner their predecessors did hundreds of years ago.

“And I’m glad,” Burns said of younger peoples’ interest. “Because I’m not getting any younger.”

Burns first entered Freemasonry on July 4, 1964. Since then, he has participated in many of the numerous organizations within the overarching fraternity. The fraternity’s sub-groups range from the relatively well-known such as the Shrine, York Rite, and Scottish Rite to those for women, such Order of the Eastern Star, and young girls, Job’s Daughters.

The local Job’s Daughter group, Bethel No. 2, is one of the oldest in the state, Lowe said, noting it recently celebrated its 85th anniversary.

Each organization has a slightly different bent, all aimed at improving its members through moral instruction and allegory. About 2,500 Freemasons in different groups use the Terre Haute Masonic Temple, Lowe said, adding there are about 70,000 Freemasons in Indiana.

Each year, Freemasons donate more than $1 billion to charity, Burns said, adding that 95 percent of the recipients are non-Masons.

One of the uniting principles though, both agreed, is that of brotherhood.

Lowe recounted his recent travels to England, where he sat in lodge with members of the British peerage and blue collar dock-workers. “I’ve had some pretty rare opportunities with this fraternity,” he said, adding the value of having “brothers” in every town on Earth which hosts a lodge.

Burns said one of Freemasonry’s guiding principles is that of accepting all men “on the level,” meaning worldly position, income and title are of no regard inside lodge. On the stage of one alter room set two large stones, one rough and jagged, the other smooth and squared. Burns said the former represents mankind in his native, unpolished state. The latter is the goal for which each strives.

Contrary to the misconceptions held by many, Freemasonry’s history is available for public consumption, with only the speeches and some rituals held secret, Burn said, rattling off from memory lines which sounded more poetic than prosaic.

At the end of the building tour, he said if his job was well done, anyone in attendance would feel welcome to return with questions or curiosity.

“Oh, my,” he said, when asked what he wants the public to know about his fraternity. “That I can’t imagine not being a Freemason. This is my 45th year and I’m getting more out of it today than I did in 1964.”



Brian Boyce can be reached at 812-231-4253 or brian.boyce@tribstar.com.