By T.S. Akers
Looking across McAlester today, it almost seems impossible to imagine the skyline without its Scottish Rite Temple perched atop the city’s most prominent hill. However, when the Scottish Rite arrived in what was then the Indian Territory, McAlester was not originally selected as the location for those Masonic bodies. Muskogee was intended to be the home of the Scottish Rite in what became eastern Oklahoma. To the credit of McAlester, the original plan for the Scottish Rite in the Indian Territory was not realized and that branch of Freemasonry arrived in the city in early 1901. Under the guiding hand of William Busby, the Father of Modern McAlester, the first temple to house the Scottish Rite at McAlester was erected in 1907. With considerable growth, it came time for an expansion of that temple in the late 1920s, and from its shell a new McAlester Scottish Rite Temple was brought forth by an architect largely forgotten to time.
In 1890 Robert W. Hill of Muskogee was made deputy for the Scottish Rite in the Indian Territory. He intended to create Albert Pike Lodge of Perfection No. 1 at Muskogee, reserving that name and number for that purpose. However, he first set out to establish the Scottish Rite at Chickasha, instituting Alpha Lodge of Perfection No. 2 there in hopes of spreading the higher degrees of Masonry across the Indian Territory’s western boundary. The Scottish Rite failed to flourish at Chickasha though and Hill was ultimately replaced as Deputy by Edmond H. Doyle of McAlester. Doyle then proceeded to institute Albert Pike Lodge of Perfection No. 1 at McAlester on the 2nd of February in 1901. The Scottish Rite at Chickasha ceased to exist after the Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territories were combined into the Scottish Rite Orient of Oklahoma under the leadership of Harper S. Cunningham. In December of 1904, Cunningham appointed the newly arrived William Busby as his deputy at McAlester and Busby set about expanding the Scottish Rite there. In 1905 a Chapter of Rose Croix, a Council of Kadosh, and a Consistory were added to complete the McAlester Scottish Rite Bodies.[1] (A Scottish Rite Valley is composed of four separate Masonic Bodies. A Lodge of Perfection is the business conducting body of the Valley and oversees the Fourth Degree through the Fourteenth Degree. The Chapter of Rose Croix oversees the Fifteenth Degree through the Eighteenth Degree. The Council of Kadosh oversees the Nineteenth Degree through the Thirtieth Degree. And the Consistory oversees the Thirty-First Degree and the Thirty-Second Degree.)
.jpg)
Assembled in a temporary wood frame structure known as “The Tabernacle,” the Fourth through the Thirty-Second degrees of the Scottish Rite were conferred and communicated for the first time at McAlester in March of 1905. Busby, who had an eye for grand projects, knew that a proper temple would be required for the Scottish Rite to thrive. Under his direction, Busby identified a location for a temple, chose the architect, and served as both contractor and financier. Ground was broken in October of 1905 and the building was dedicated in April of 1907.[2] The red brick temple that Busby brought forth at the corner of 2nd Street and Adams Avenue was serving a membership of roughly 2,500 Scottish Rite Masons by 1915. That number had grown to just over 7,200 by 1921, making McAlester the third largest Scottish Rite Valley in the United States.[3] The temple that was home to those Scottish Rite Bodies was beginning to burst at the seams with its growing membership.
The first expansion that came for the McAlester Scottish Rite Temple was in 1921. With hotel accommodations lacking and the growing number of men coming to the city for the multi-day degree conferrals known as Reunions, a dormitory was erected to the south of the temple to house the degree candidates and members. The building was a three-story fireproof structure that was connected to the temple by way of a tunnel and named the Albert Pike Dormitory.[4] After the completion of the dormitory, the temple itself underwent a small expansion, which cost just over $71,000.[5] The building’s existing dining room was opened to double the lobby space and a new dining room was added.[6] Although interior finishes had yet to be applied, the expansion was mostly complete in time for the Winter Reunion to be held on the 22nd through the 25th of January in 1923.[7] Whilst these were modest expansions, the McAlester Scottish Rite Masons undoubtedly took note of the massive new Scottish Rite Temple being erected in Guthrie, which was finished in 1924.[8] It was decided in 1927 that the dormitory at McAlester would become the Albert Pike Hospital, which resulted in the loss of much needed space.[9] The Valley of McAlester membership at this time numbered 7,800 Masons.[10]
The 1920s were a period of prosperity and Freemasonry greatly benefited from this. Masonic construction projects were entered into across Oklahoma to accommodate the membership growth. With the earlier modest expansion of the McAlester Scottish Rite Temple completed in the early 1920s and after the creation of the Albert Pike Hospital, a more monumental project was announced. On the 19th of December in 1927, Albert Pike Lodge of Perfection voted to adopt a campaign to raise $600,000 for a temple expansion. The general idea of those men for the expansion was to create a second story over the building's west section, which had been added in 1923, and to fashion the largest and best equipped theatre stage amongst the Scottish Rite in the Nation. Abraham U. Thomas of McAlester, then serving as Sovereign Grand Inspector General of the Scottish Rite for Oklahoma, remarked on the project, stating that he “wanted McAlester to remain the center of Masonry for eastern Oklahoma.” To finance the project, it was decided that an insurance scheme would be entered into with each member pledging $300, payable in $25 installments, in exchange for a $450 life insurance policy. The scheme was arranged by the New York City firm of Hedrick, Marts, and Lundy, a well-known firm for organizational fundraising, particularly around new buildings.[11]
When the decision to raise $600,000 for temple expansion was made, there were no definitive plans as to what the final product would be. The Scottish Rite Masons of McAlester gave themselves a little time to work on this though as their campaign was to begin in the spring of 1928.[12] In order to get the membership to open their pocketbooks, illustrations would be required to outline what leadership had envisioned. To do this an architect was recruited from within the membership of the McAlester Scottish Rite Valley. The flamboyant William Taussig Schmitt of Oklahoma City was selected for the task of designing the temple expansion.[13] Schmitt was born at Cat Spring, Texas, in 1880, a community founded by German immigrants in 1834.[14] His parents had arrived in America from Germany in the 1850s and 60s.[15] Schmitt had moved to Oklahoma City by 1905 when he married his wife, Marion Dozier.[16] He took the degrees of Freemasonry at Siloam Lodge No. 276 of Oklahoma City in 1910 and served that lodge as Worshipful Master in 1916. Schmitt joined the McAlester Scottish Rite Valley in October of 1912, was made a Knight Commander of the Court of Honour in 1919, and coroneted a 33rd Degree in 1923. In addition to membership in the India Shrine Temple of Oklahoma City, Schmitt was also in the York Rite of Freemasonry and was invited to membership in St. Luke Conclave of the Red Cross of Constantine at McAlester in 1923, serving as Sovereign in 1929.[17]
Professionally, William T. Schmitt had several buildings to his name across Oklahoma and Kansas by 1928. In Arkansas City, Kansas, he had designed the municipal building, completed in 1919, which featured red brick with a colonnaded entrance in contrasting limestone.[18] Also in Kansas, Schmitt designed the expansive Pittsburg High School in the Collegiate Gothic style, which was finished in 1921.[19] At Norman, his design for the new Masonic Dormitory at the University of Oklahoma, also in Collegiate Gothic, was completed the same year.[20] In Oklahoma City, Schmitt designed one of the first buildings at Oklahoma City College, today Oklahoma City University. Finished in 1923, the Collegiate Gothic design featuring a central tower originally housed offices and classrooms.[21] The following year, Schmitt’s St. Mary’s Catholic School was opened at Fort Scott, Kansas. That design of red brick and contrasting limestone included an entrance surmounted by a Roman arch.[22] At Salina, Kansas, construction was commenced on Schmitt’s design for their Masonic Temple in 1920. The building, which was in the Classical Revival style, suffered a structural collapse in July of 1921. Whilst Schmitt was replaced as the architect, his original design was freely consulted. The Salina Masonic Temple was finally completed in 1927.[23] During this period, Schmitt, with Hawk & Parr of Oklahoma City, designed the Besse Hotel of Pittsburg, Kansas. The collaboration yielded a modern three-ziggurat massing with Late Gothic Revival ornamentation that was finished in 1926.[24] Schmitt’s portfolio also included two schools and two churches in Salina at the time he set to work on the new McAlester Scottish Rite Temple.[25]
In April of 1928, the McAlester Scottish Rite Valley produced a booklet to promote their expansion endeavor, which was titled After the Manner of King Solomon. Temple building comparisons to that of King Solomon are a regular feature of Freemasonry and that was not lost on those charged with raising the necessary funds for the McAlester expansion. Here reference is made to King Solomon’s financing of his temple and providing workers to realize it.[26] In this regard, the Scottish Rite Masons are addressing how they will pay for the new temple and ensure the funds are raised. As previously discussed, the funds were to be raised by an insurance scheme, with each member pledging $300. Of course, there would need to be ample men working to ensure every member made their pledge to raise the $600,000. Here is where King Solomon’s “workmen from the temple” came into play. The state was divided into four areas: McAlester, Oklahoma City, Ardmore, and Tulsa. Each area had a chairman and within each area were four "regiments" of Masons headed by a "colonel." These regiments consisted of city and town "divisions" with "captains."[27] The army of workers consisted of eight hundred Scottish Rite Masons who were tasked with securing the necessary pledges over ten days. The campaign commenced on the 15th of May, 1928, and daily reports were made each evening during special dinners at the McAlester Scottish Rite Temple.[28]
The promotional booklet also shared the need for temple expansion. It was noted that the 1907 building required extensive repairs and was simply not safe for valuable records. Architect William T. Schmitt commented on this stating that the expansion would include rebuilding the original eastern section of the temple and fire-proofing the partition between the eastern and western sections. Concerning the need for Masonic space in McAlester, the expansion was also to bring all the Masonic orders of the city under one roof: including the Blue Lodge, York Rite, Eastern Star, Order of Rainbow for girls and Order of DeMolay for boys. Most importantly, the booklet also includes Schmitt’s architectural drawings for the western and northern elevations of the temple and the auditorium. Of the temple’s new stage, which was to be the largest in the Scottish Rite across the nation, Schmitt said:
We shall build the Great Future Stage of expressionism, which shall have for its purpose and aim, in the exemplification of Scottish Rite Degrees - to suggest rather than to show - to express the depth and profundity of our Degrees symbolically.
When the dust had settled on the whirlwind campaign to raise the necessary funds for the temple expansion, it turned out that McAlester Scottish Rite Masons had exceeded their goal. Just over 2,000 insurance subscriptions were sold and a total of $750,000 had been pledged. Using the pledges as collateral, the necessary construction loans were obtained, and the project put out for bids. The contract was awarded to J.H. Frederickson and Co. of Oklahoma City in February of 1929. Now with his own firm, Frederickson had served as one of the construction superintendents for the Guthrie Scottish Rite Temple. Frederickson’s successful bid for the project was for actual construction costs plus five percent.[30] After the conclusion of the spring Reunion, work commenced in late April on the new temple, which was to run the full length of the city block and be 125 feet wide.[31] Construction began on the west end of the building, leaving the east end, the original 1907 temple, untouched.[32] This allowed for the Reunions of the McAlester Scottish Rite Valley to proceed on site during the expansion. The fall Reunion of 1929, which was held over four days beginning on the 4th of November, was conducted with the notation of “the customary plans of entertainment will be somewhat altered” owing to construction.[33]
In discussing the McAlester Scottish Rite Temple expansion, frequent mention is made of completing the west end dining hall.[34] It is specifically noted that the expansion called for the addition of a story over this portion of the building.[35] Beginning construction on the west end was logical for this reason, as it did not require extensive demolition, and allowed for continued use of the temple. The dining hall was renovated and above it one large lodge room was erected for the various Masonic orders that would soon call the building home.[36] A smaller lodge room for the youth orders was added on a mezzanine level, above the floor on which the main lodge room was located. The décor of the main lodge room was Egyptian Revival in style, a popular motif for lodge rooms at the time. Lodge rooms are laid out in an English parliamentary form with members seated on the north and south of the room. The member chairs for the main lodge room came from the balcony of the 1907 temple.[37] Temple architect William T. Schmitt’s design for the western elevation was Classical Revival in style with eight columns supporting a pediment. The west entrance is located within an archway below the colonnade. From this elevation, the rear of the temple’s fly loft is visible, which is adorned with the Masonic “Point Within a Circle.” This is a symbol of the two patron Saints of Freemasonry: Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist. This portion of the building was habitable by at least January of 1930, as at that time work shifted to the east end of the temple.[38]
.jpg)
Construction of the McAlester Scottish Rite Temple’s east end was a bit more involved as that is where the new auditorium was to be. Much of the original temple was disassembled, with certain elements retained. The new foundation was excavated deeper than that of the original temple to properly support the weight of the massive new structure. The form of the eastern elevation’s original façade was retained. The 1907 temple’s six algonite columns were reused in the new structure.[39] Algonite is a cast stone that was developed in St. Louis as an alternative to natural stone.[40] Like the western elevation, this portion of the building is also of the Classical Revival style, with a recessed two-story colonnade, and an entrance below under three arches. The central façade is surmounted by an Art Deco double-headed eagle, a symbol of the Scottish Rite. Below this, the frieze is inscribed with “Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam,” meaning “For the greater glory of God.” Located on the north and south elevations of the building are two towers, both housing spiral staircases leading from the lobby to the auditorium and onward. These towers are Egyptian Revival in style, complete with scarabeus decoration. Temple architect William T. Schmitt adorned the eastern and western sides of the towers with the Rosy Cross in algonite, with green vines and red roses. (The Rosy Cross is a symbol of the Eighteenth Degree of the Scottish Rite.) Whilst Schmitt had often worked in the red brick of Collegiate Gothic, his new temple was of blonde brick trimmed in algonite and limestone.[41] Though Schmitt’s design borrows from various styles, the mass is Art Deco in form, being angular and block-like, with the auditorium portion of the building capped in a frieze featuring geometric decoration.[42] The highest point of the building, the fly loft, is 120 feet from the ground and 50 feet above that was installed the Leibrand Light, sometimes referred to as the Great Light of Masonry. The fixture was the idea of Thomas Leibrand, 33° and is a copper globe with 168 lenses of red, blue, white, amber, and green glass. When installed, there were three 300-watt bulbs within the globe.[43]
Temple contractor J.H. Frederickson and Co. was pushing to have most of the work completed for the fall Reunion of 1930. The date for that Reunion was later set to begin on the 17th of November and run four days.[44] The occasion was opened with the dedication of the building on the first day of the Reunion.[45] The class of candidates joining the Scottish Rite over those several days became known as the Second Corner Stone Class. Those men entering the building from the east end main entrance that day would have passed through the arches of the portico and encountered a pair of relief sculptures. The first of the pair is a representation of darkness with the words “Darkness was upon the face of the deep.” The second of the pair is a man bearing a lighted torch with the words “Let there be light,” representing the light of knowledge. From the portico, entry is gained through a bronze door. After passing through a turnstile, visitors are poured into the atrium. Temple architect William T. Schmitt wanted this space referred to as an atrium in the Roman sense as a space where men met together in social intercourse.[46] The atrium, which is reminiscent of a New York theatre style lobby, features a terrazzo floor and columns supporting the auditorium above. The columns are painted in the trompe l'oeil style, with gold veins giving the appearance of marble.[47] The atrium also features a painted border along the walls with Scottish Rite elements. Both the atrium and its columns were painted by Adolphus Burt, who was a member of the McAlester Scottish Rite Valley and a local fireman.[48] Opposite the temple entrance is the entrance to the dining hall, above which is situated a backlit stained-glass feature of an Art Deco design. On either side of the atrium are the landings for the spiral staircases leading to the auditorium.
Arriving on the second floor of the temple by either staircase, visitors first encounter what are officially labeled as “Class Rooms.”[49] That is rooms in which the class of Scottish Rite candidates could assemble. These rooms are better considered as anterooms leading to the auditorium and it is from the larger of three anterooms that access is gained to the eastern elevation’s balcony. The auditorium is truly the beauty and glory of the building’s interior, capable of seating 1,200 with floor seats and a balcony. The proscenium arch is fifty feet high.[50] Above the proscenium, the temple’s pipe organ and the choir loft can be found. The stage below the proscenium is 60’x80’ with an additional 40’x80’ apron. The auditorium is lined with columns in the Egyptian Revival style, which were inspired by the temple at Karnak. These columns are adorned with hieroglyphics, which were painted locally by the Smalley Paint Company.[51]
The total expenditure for scenery and stage equipment in the auditorium was around $53,000.[52] However, this did not include sound amplification equipment. Writing in the Oklahoma Mason magazine in September of 1930, William P. Freeman said:
On account of the magnitude of the stage, the auditorium being very much larger than in the Old Temple, brethren who are playing parts may find it extremely difficult to make themselves heard by the Class and visiting brethren. Everything will be new and strange to them, and it will be necessary for degree workers to keep their wits about them, and to "speak up."[53]
An important component to the theatrical presentation of the Scottish Rite degrees is music. As was previously said, the McAlester temple’s choir loft was located above the auditorium’s proscenium. The choir would have been a mixed composition of men and women. The men may not necessarily have been Scottish Rite Masons either. To prevent the choir from hearing any of the ritual work occurring below on the stage, a system of velvet covered louvres would be opened for when chorale accompaniment was required and closed when not.[62] The console of the temple’s organ was also located in the choir loft and the organ’s pipes were mounted in the ceiling of the auditorium. The cost of the instrument was $25,000, but it was not entirely a new instrument.[63] As the east end of the temple, the original 1907 structure, was disassembled, so too was the original organ, which had been produced by the W. W. Kimball Co. of Chicago. The roughly twenty-year-old instrument was sent back to Kimball, refurbished, and expanded. Kimball rarely expanded an existing instrument like this, which makes the McAlester organ unique. What was returned to McAlester was a 43-rank instrument for the new auditorium. The other unique aspect of the organ is its installation. Installed through double doors near the roof of the auditorium and hoisted into place high above the floor, the organ’s sound is funneled through tone chutes and out a decorative rosette in the ceiling above the stage.[64]
The second McAlester Scottish Rite Temple has frequently been referred to as the “Million Dollar Temple,” but as can be seen, the figures do not add up to that amount.[65] According to McAlester Valley Orator Thomas Crowl, 33°, the total cost for the temple expansion was just over $575,000. Of this, temple architect William T. Schmitt collected a $23,000 fee.[66] The building campaign secured a total of $750,000 in pledges, exceeding the original goal. The idea of the “Million Dollar Temple” comes from the promotional campaign, which was laid out in the booklet After the Manner of King Solomon. As the new temple was to be built on the site of the old, including expansion of the original structure, it was said that for $600,000 a building could be provided for that “could not be duplicated for a million.”[67] In all, it sounded as if the McAlester Scottish Rite Valley was in a good financial situation. Unfortunately, when the temple was completed in November of 1930, the economy had changed drastically since construction began in the spring of 1929. The prosperity of the 1920s began to slow in August of 1929 and the stock market crash of October ushered in the Great Depression. Masonic membership began to decline as members fell on hard times and could not pay their dues. Pledges towards the McAlester temple’s building campaign also began to go unfulfilled and the $750,000 was never actually realized. Owing to this, the McAlester Scottish Rite Valley had to secure an additional mortgage of $250,000 to pay the construction costs.[68]
Problems with paying for the McAlester Scottish Rite Temple expansion seem to have existed from the beginning. Construction commenced in the spring of 1929, but economic trouble nationwide was already being felt in August. That month, the McAlester Scottish Rite missed its first advanced payment on its scenic drops. Though it was claimed that the payment was lost in the mail, by December the McAlester Valley was two payments behind, which was a total of $2,000. The artist Thomas G. Moses had written to William P. Freeman, the Valley Secretary, about the first missing payment. A second letter from the National Theatre Supply Co. in December yielded payment for the total balance due at the time. During installation of the scenic drops, a leaky rail car resulted in some of the drops being damaged, which Moses repaired. The estimated damage was $120 but owing to this damage the McAlester Valley refused to pay the final $807 owed for the drops.[69] Today, that would be the equivalent of $14,500.
The W. W. Kimball Co. was also not spared when it came to late payments. In May of 1930, temple architect William T. Schmitt expressed his displeasure with the organ contract. With a $7,000 advance payment already made, he believed that Kimball was overbilling for features that should have been included. There was also to be an additional expense for electric heaters which Schmitt did not believe was warranted.[70] By 1932 the McAlester Valley still owed around $16,000 on the organ.[71]As the Valley’s financial situation worsened, they agreed with Kimball to make interest payments only on the balance due. In April of 1933 the Valley informed Kimball that they would not even be able to continue with the interest payments.[72] There is a common story told in McAlester that Kimball came to repossess the organ, but after seeing the installation, agreed to a payment plan. Of course, the payment plan already existed, and the W.W. Kimball Co. would have been aware of the organ installation. According to organ historian Dr. Andrew Schaeffer, with no market for organs such as the scale of that in the McAlester Scottish Rite Temple, repossession would not have benefited Kimball. An effort was made to raise the funds necessary to pay off the organ, soliciting $2 from every McAlester Scottish Rite Mason, but that was unsuccessful.[73] A final, negotiated payment, of $2,500 was made for the organ in 1937.[74]
In addition to financial troubles, the McAlester Scottish Rite Temple also suffered a fire in 1934, adding further insult to injury. The fire erupted in the main lodge room in the temple’s west end and was believed to have been ignited by a carelessly tossed cigarette. At around 2:30 in the morning, smoke from the blaze began to pour into the tunnel that connected the temple to the Albert Pike Hospital. This passageway was created when the hospital was originally the dormitory. Hospital Superintendent Julia Dalnwood, who can likely be credited with saving the McAlester Scottish Rite Temple, was the individual who discovered the smoke and called the fire department. The fire caused $5,000 in damage to the temple’s main lodge room.[75] Repairs resulted in the loss of the lodge room’s original Egyptian motif, which was replaced by a Classical-Revival style. A sound system was installed in the lodge room in the 1990s, which required running cables under the floor. According to former building superintendent Clem Peppers, when an access point was cut into the floor to lay cable, the original charred joists below could be seen.[76]
William T. Schmitt continued to design throughout his lifetime, but none of those projects ever matched the scale of the McAlester Temple. Completed in 1934 at Ada, Oklahoma, was Schmitt’s design for the United States Post Office and Courthouse.[77] The building is of limestone and in the Art Deco style, marking how architectural tastes had changed from Schmitt’s earlier work. Schmitt’s design for the public library at Cushing, Oklahoma, was completed in 1939.[78] The library, also in the Art Deco style, is of blonde brick and contrasting concrete; the same color palette as that of the McAlester Scottish Rite Temple. Although not selected as the architect, Schmitt also provided designs for a city hall, recreational building, and fire station at Cushing in the 1940s.[79] One of Schmitt’s final projects was that of the Kiwash Electric Cooperative headquarters at Cordell, Oklahoma. Completed in 1951, the single story Kiwash Electric building includes offices, shop space, and a warehouse.[80] Schmitt returned to the blonde brick and contrasting concrete style at Cordell that he had employed at McAlester.
After his wife Marian passed away in 1962, William T. Schmitt moved to California, where his daughter lived.[81] He took Marian’s body with him, and she was interred in the Mountain View Cemetery of Calexico.[82] In his waning years, Schmitt was struggling with cancer and underwent a series of operations. The burden seems to have been more than his daughter could handle and Schmitt was moved into the Valley Convalescent Home at El Centro. Schmitt wrote to McAlester Scottish Rite Valley Secretary John Burks in 1963, indicating that he was destitute and in need of relief. At the time, Schmitt was being looked after by members of El Centro Lodge No. 384 and the San Diego Scottish Rite Valley. There was an effort made to return Schmitt to Oklahoma, to live in the Masonic Home at Guthrie. However, Schmitt did not wish to leave his wife Marion and intended for himself to be buried in the plot next to her, which he had purchased when she was interred. When his assets dipped below $1,200, Imperial County began to pay the costs of Schmitt’s care at the rest home. Schmitt succumbed to his illness on the 26th of October in 1965.[83] (This author attempted to locate the final resting place of William T. Schmitt, but owing to a fire, the necessary records of Mountain View Cemetery to confirm the grave do not exist.)
When naming Oklahoma architects of note, the firms of Hawk & Parr or Layton, Hicks & Forsyth are frequently mentioned. The former designed the Guthrie Scottish Rite Temple, and the latter can claim the Oklahoma City Masonic Temple. Solomon Layton himself was the architect of the Oklahoma State Capitol. Though he is largely forgotten today, William T. Schmitt was at one time in the employ of Hawk & Parr.[84] Schmitt’s monumental McAlester Scottish Rite Temple certainly stands on the same level as both the Guthrie Scottish Rite Temple and the Oklahoma State Capitol. When William Busby chose the location for his original Scottish Rite Temple, he selected the highest point in the city of McAlester. Schmitt’s vision for the temple expansion was to create the tallest building on the highest point in McAlester. With the elements that were retained of the original 1907 temple fronting 2nd Street, Busby would certainly have been proud of the second temple that was born of his. It was the desire of Abraham U. Thomas for McAlester to be the center of Masonry for eastern Oklahoma. The expansion of the McAlester Scottish Rite Temple, completed in 1930, saw to Thomas’ desire. Today, the McAlester Scottish Rite Temple should be viewed as a monument to the men who had the fortitude to bring it into existence and at the head of that list of remembrance should be temple architect William T. Schmitt.
