Part 351: Bestor G. Brown, “Masonic Stage Carpenter”
Bestor G. Brown (1861-1917) was another key individual in the development of Masonic stages during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. He was an instrumental figure in the promotion of Scottish Rite degree productions across the country.
Brown was born at Blufftown, Indiana during 1861. The Browns soon moved to Kansas with his parents. His father, George S. Brown was a law partner of Judge John Guthrie. Bestor attended public schools and became a reporter for the Topeka Daily Commonwealth at the age of 16. Later he was in charge of the city department before leaving to study law, attending the University of Michigan. In 1884, he married Emma Kellam, who died only a few years later. In 1891, he advertised as an investment banker in the Topeka Daily Capital with offices in rooms 6 and 7 of the Topeka Bank Building. Brown’s ads listed him as “a dealer in high grade municipal, county, school and corporation bonds. Trust certificates bearing from 5 to 8 percent interest issued to investors. Prime Commercial Paper a Specialty. Correspondence Solicited.”
However, Brown soon turned to Masonic regalia and paraphernalia sales, suggesting that this was quite a lucrative field for an ambitious Mason. It is important to note that up until this point he had no experience with technical theatre or commercial stages. In 1892, he listed residence as Chicago, moving just in time to be part of the preparation for the Columbian Exposition. Brown was based in Chicago from 1892 to 1898; working as a fraternal traveling salesman. He returned to Topeka, Kansas in 1899 and later moved to Kansas City by 1904, becoming the western sales manager of M. C. Lilley Company.
Brown was reported to be “one of the most profound students of freemasonry and ritualists in the whole country” (The Kansas City Kansan, 11 July 1918, page 1). He was noted as “connected with practically every movement which Masons launched in Kansas for many years.” This was imperative if he was to sell fraternal regalia and paraphernalia.
Brown’s Masonic resumé included involvement in the Scottish Rite, York Rite, Midian Shrine, and the Order of the Eastern Star. He was also a member of the Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias and organized several chapters of the Psi Upsillon Fraternity. Masonic work included being Grand Master for the Grand Lodge of Kansas; Past High Priest of the Grand Chapter, Royal Arch Masons of Kansas; Past Master (and one of the first members initiated) of Siloam lodge, No. 225, A.F. and A.M.; Past Grand Master of the Grand Council; Past Grand Commander of Knights Templar in Kansas; General Grand Scribe of the General Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons; a Past Grand Sovereign of the Grand Imperial Council of the Red Cross of Constantine; and at the time of his death was an officer in the national Grand Council. Brown also had the distinction of having sat at the Royal Lodge in London when King Edward presided (Fort Scott Daily Tribune, 12 July 1917, page 2).
Brown was also a traveling salesman and western representative of M. C. Lilley and an “authority on the costumes for Masonic Bodies, having made a deep study of the subject in France and England.” In 1903, the Portsmouth Herald reported that Brown, who was the new Grand Master of Kansas, had been “unusually active” in lodge, chapter and council work since his admission to the Fraternity in 1884.
He was praised for his devotion of Masonry and the article reported, “Mr. Brown is called the only Masonic stage carpenter in the country” (Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 12 June 1903, page 3). Less than a decade later, the counterweight system installed in Scottish Rite theaters by M. C. Lilley subcontractors (Sosman & Landis) was referred to as “”Brown’s special system.” My research suggests that the stage machinery was actually developed by the stage mechanics at Sosman & Landis, not by Brown. This would be understandable as Brown came from a banking background and had no experience with theatre technology or supplies prior to 1892.
Brown was the salesman and possibly marketing technology developed by Charles S. King, a long-term Sosman & Landis studio employee who had completed 200 theatre installations by 1899. King started his career as a stage carpenter and stage machinist in 1859 and began working for Sosman & Landis in 1884. In 1903 newspaper articles note that Brown “created and developed the application of modern scenic properties to the dramatic presentation of all Masonic degrees and in this work is almost invariably consulted everywhere throughout the United States.” Again, I think that he was associated with the system because he was selling the product and not the designer.
Brown died in 1917 at the Battle Creek sanitorium after a relapse following an operation for kidney complications. Brown was 56 years old. He was survived by his daughter, Mrs. Dana L. Davis of Topeka. For the past few years of his life, Brown had been living in Kansas City while continuing to work in the western offices of M. C. Lilley Co.
The first year after Brown passed away, members of the Wichita Consistory organized an annual pilgrimage to Topeka, Kansas, to honor of his memory (The Kansas City Kansan, 11 July 1918, page 1). The paper reported that Brown was “one of the most scholarly and best loved Kansas Masons. All of the Scottish Rite bodies in the state were invited to join in the placing of a floral tribute on the grave of ‘their best loved brother.’”
To be continued…
I’m a past master of Bestor G Brown lodge (2013)
Where is his grave. I take it from the article it might be in Topeka ks
I have yet to locate his grave.