Part 621: Meanwhile in Lawrence, Kansas
In 1909, the Topeka Scottish Rite membership was soaring and the scenery provided by Sosman & Landis to the Valley in 1906 was still an unprecedented success. Meanwhile in Lawrence, Kansas, there were new plans a brewin’…
“The Lawrence Daily World” included the article “Scottish Rite Temple Here” (29 April 1909, page 1). The first four lines printed in bold included:
Plans Are Underway for a $20,000 Building
AN OLD MUSIC HALL CORNER
Secured Option on Property Today for $10,500.
Will Probably Erect New Building This Coming Summer – To Help Masonry Here.”
There you have it; big beautiful buildings incited men to join the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. The bigger, the better. Impressive edifices signaled a successful group of men doing exciting things.
Little did Lawrence Masons realize that their vision for the future would never last. Could they have even conceived that by the summer of 2018, the Lawrence Scottish Rite Bodies would move once again from a space in a shopping mall to a nondescript metal warehouse.
As we drove through Lawrence on our way home last summer, I desperately tried to find the current Scottish Rite location; we were making stops along the way from Santa Fe to Minneapolis. After making several circles around a shopping mall parking lot, we finally found the new building a few blocks over, and my expectations were crushed. I have never encountered any building with less character and I could not help think of the irony when reflecting on the degree work that heralded King Solomon’s Temple and the chief architect Hiram. I could hear the arguments to move to a smaller, and less-expensive location, citing declining membership and increasing building expenses. I am sure not all jumped on board as the Scottish Rite Masons left their magnificent home.
So lets go back to 1909 and see how these beautiful buildings ushered in a wave of membership and newspapers reported that new buildings were being constructed to “Help Masonry”
The Lawrence Daily World” reported,
“A committee of five from the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite lodge of Perfection visited J. B. Watkins this morning and secured an option for the old Methodist church at the corner of Berkely and Massachusetts street, for $4500 less than what Mr. Watkins figured was a reasonable interest on his investment.” Today’s monetary equivalent of $4500 in 1909 is $124,173.79. That is a lot of money to give up for a good cause, even if you are a Mason.
The article continues, “Mr. Watkins made this special price of $10,500 because he said he considered the property as sacred ground, and favored a Scottish Rite temple being built on the site.
This encouragement and the words of Governor Stubbs in Topeka yesterday, that the Scottish Rite body of Lawrence ought to have a temple, together with the enthusiasm of the fifty members present at the meeting last night, and the recent words of Grand Inspector General Thomas W. Harrison, of Topeka, encouraging the Scottish Rite bodies to press forward enthusiastically and increase their membership and build a building if they ever expected to have a consistory here, all seemed to make this an opportune time to seize this opportunity and start immediately effecting plans for the building, and raising the money from the members by subscription to stock to build a temple that would easily accommodate and enrolled membership of a thousand.
A Lawrence consistory of 32nd degree, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Masons would have jurisdiction over the state of Kansas, except those countries in which there were already established consistories – like Topeka, Wichita, etc. Also it would have the added advantage of securing new members from among the student Masons attending K. S. U., besides the 500 Blue Lodge Masons in Lawrence, and all Blue Lodge Masons in adjoining towns, the insuring continued and rapid growth and assured success to the enterprise.
The plans are estimated to require an expenditure, all told, or some $20,000, and figured on a strictly business basis of income from the building, and increase in the membership to create a sinking fund expected to clean up its indebtedness in from five to seven years, as that has been the history of the success of every Scottish Rite body that has taken an aggressive stand and started to build a temple, as can readily be proven by the records of the many temples in Kansas.
It is eminently fitting that the Lawrence bodies should have a template of their own, as it was the first Scottish Rite organization in Kansas, and has installed the bodies of the Topeka, Fort Scott, and most of the other prominent lodges in the state.
This is also a good thing for Lawrence, and the Masonic bodies in general, as it is aiding to cement them all the more closely together, and is evidence of the rapid march of Lawrence to the front as one of the wide awake towns in the state.” The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Cathedral Committee of Lawrence Kansas, was listed as J. H. Cohn, C. W. Murphy, F. P. Smith, T. J. Edmonds, and Frederick Crowe.
In 2003, the “Lawrence Journal-World” included the article “Landmark sheds its wraps; Masons seek temple buyer” (14 May 2003). The executive secretary of the Scottish Rite commented that the Scottish Rite in Lawrence, Kansas, was “Faced with aging membership and ever-increasing costs.” Lawrence-area Freemasons decided to sell the majestic Scottish Rite Temple.
The asking price for the 1911 Egyptian-Revival style building was $775,000. At the time, the stage included 55 backdrops. It was another collection that Thomas G. Moses recorded being responsible for at Sosman & Landis. The fate of the scenery is currently unknown.
To be continued…
