Copyright © 2021 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett
In 1923, Moses wrote,” I went to El Dorado and signed up for $3,150.00 including the murals. I felt pretty good over that. I will do something worthwhile on them.”
Moses landed the contract for scenery and murals in the lodge room at the new Masonic Hall on North Washington Street in El Dorado, Arkansas. It was a four-story building designed in the Egyptian Revival style. The cornerstone laying ceremony took place on April 28, 1923, and Moses began work on it right away while juggling a few other projects. Although was still employed at Sosman & Landis, this was one of the side projects for Moses & Megan, as they bided their time, waiting purchase the Sosman & Landis name.
Much of the scenery for the El Dorado Masonic Hall was painted after hours when Moses was on site in Binghamton, New York. That fall, Moses wrote, “On the 25th of October, I received a wire from El Dorado, asking me to come on there for a few days and lay out the color scheme. As I had been working on the scenery for El Dorado and Wichita during my stay in Binghamton, I had it shipped so I could put it up.” After arriving in El Dorado to install the scenery, he wrote, “A few days’ work – put all my scenery up and had it paid for, which was a surprise as I expected I would have to wait for some time.” He also collected $600 as a down payment for the mural work. A month later, Moses was working on the lodge room murals. He wrote, “I started my mural panels for El Dorado and some Masonic models which we were sadly in need of…I am very anxious to have my murals at El Dorado come out good as it is going to mean a great deal for me in the future, not only in Masonic work but back again in lobby displays in hotels and theatres.”
At the same time he was working on the El Dorado murals, he and Fred Megan were also going after Masonic projects in Little Rock, Denver and Fort Leavenworth. Those were the projects that required Masonic Models. Early in 1924, Moses wrote, “I started to work on Fort Leavenworth drops, during the week spent some little time on El Dorado murals. My best day on murals is Sunday. Megan on the road most of the time makes the studio work so much harder for me, especially when I want to paint more.” By the end of March 1924, Moses brought his finished murals to El Dorado. Of his trip, he wrote, “Got all my murals up and everyone pleased. Bowers paid me $600.00, a like balance to be paid later.” The mural project was $1800, with 1/3 due upon contractual signing, 1/3 upon delivery and 1/3 at a later date.
El Dorado is quite a fascinating town on its own, situated along the Ouachita River in the Timberlands region of Arkansas. It was timber and agriculture that initially fueled the area. However, on January 10, 1921, the Busey No. 1 oil well was completed one mile southwest of El Dorado. Dr. Samuel T. Busey was an oil speculator who struck it rich. On February 3, 1921, Topeka’s “Petroleum Journal” reported, “A doctor, a farmer and a Chinese laundryman gambled in oil at El Dorado, Arkansas. Now the little town of El Dorado, Ark., is counting its millions, actual and prospective. Samuel T. Busey of Newark, N.J., is the doctor. He’s also a geologist and globe trotter. He heard of a gasser near El Dorado Ark. That was so strong it blew its own vents in the surface on the earth. By July 31, 1921, newspapers announced, “He is a pioneer. A discoverer of three mammoth oil fields, known as the Wildcat King of the Universe; Now drilling a Super Wildcat on 6000 Acres” (Fort Worth Record-Telegram, page 28). Although the Busey No. 1 produced only a short-lived oil run, it brought a wave of speculators into the area, transforming the small town with 4,000 residents into the oil capital of Arkansas.
Okay, really hard to write this with the “Beverly Hillbillies” song going through my head…
“Come and listen to my story about a man named Jed
A poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed,
And then one day he was shootin’ at some food,
And up through the ground come a bubblin’ crude.
Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea.”
Here’s the link in case you need a little Buddy Ebsen tonight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T94bE2_CfPA
By the time Moses visited El Dorado in 1923, the city was in the midst of a building boom, with fifty-nine oil contracting companies, thirteen oil distributors and refiners, and twenty-two oil production companies. It’s not surprising with Moses having worked with Herbert Barnard on the Petroleum Expo in Tulsa that year. He likely got the connection at the event.
It was during this time that El Dorado Lodge No. 13, F. & A.M. built their new Masonic Hall. By 1925 the El Dorado’s population reached 30,000.
The El Dorado Masons had been around for quite a while, having first received their charter in 1846. Like many Masonic Orders at that time, they met in a variety of locations, until they secured enough funds to purchase their own building. Their luck was not fantastic though, as one after another of their buildings burned to the ground. Their last purchase before building the Hall in 1923 was the Johnsten Opera House; and yes, that burned to the ground too. Fortunately, the El Dorado Masonic Hall has withstood the test of time and even made it onto the National Register in 2001. It is now part of the El Dorado Commercial Historic District, comprised of sixty-nine buildings and one monument.
Tracking down any historic image of the hall has been quite a challenge. Fortunately, Zackery A. Cothern included two images of the building in “Arkansas Listings in the National Register of Historic Places: Egyptian Revival Design Elements,” published in “The Arkansas Historical Quarterly,” (Vol 63, No. 4, 2004).
…and then I turned to Facebook…
I started looking to see if the lodge or members were posting any photos of ceremonial activities that would provide a glimpse of the stage or lodge room. Strike! Although the stage area still remains a mystery to me, Moses’ murals for the El Dorado Masonic Hall were featured numerous times. They are quite lovely. This small fraternal theater will be part of my next southern travel itinerary.
To be continued…
