The Dawn of Templary in Oklahoma

By T.S. Akers, KTCH
Past Grand Captain General
Knights Templar of Oklahoma

 James E. Humphrey, Daniel M. Hailey, Edmond H. Doyle, and James A. Scott
Past Grand Commanders of Indian Territory

It is believed that the birthplace of Masonic teachings in America was at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia in 1731.[i] This was followed by the reprinting of Anderson’s Constitutions of the Free-Masons by Benjamin Franklin in 1734.[ii] As Freemasonry gained speed in the colonies, it was not uncommon for “higher” or side degrees to be conferred in addition to the three degrees of the Symbolic Lodge. The two more prevalent of these additional degrees were that of the Holy Royal Arch and the Order of the Temple. The earliest recorded conferral of the Order of the Temple was within St. Andrews Lodge in Boston on August 28, 1769. It is believed that the ritual for the degree was provided by members of the various military lodges of the British Army then stationed in the area. Templary in America was loosely practiced from then on until the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the United States was formally organized in 1816.[iii] 

Templary would arrive in what would become the State of Oklahoma in the summer of 1890. The Land Run of 1889 opened up what was known as the Unassigned Lands to settlement and the Oklahoma Territory was established.[iv] The summer of 1890 was a very busy summer indeed; in addition to the creation of the territorial government, a group of twenty Sir Knights in Guthrie petitioned the Grand Encampment to form a Commandery of Knights Templar on July 12, 1890.[v] Guthrie Commandery No. 1 was granted a dispensation to work with Cassius M. Barnes as Eminent Commander; Barnes would go on to serve as the Fourth Territorial Governor of Oklahoma.[vi]

The proceedings for the 1892 Triennial of the Grand Encampment show that Templary was gaining momentum in the sister territories that would become the State of Oklahoma. Both Muskogee Commandery No. 1 in Indian Territory and Oklahoma Commandery No. 2 at Oklahoma City in Oklahoma Territory received dispensations to work during this period.[vii] The next two years saw the creation of three more Commanderies in the region. In Oklahoma Territory, Ascension Commandery No. 3 was established at El Reno in 1893. In Indian Territory, Chickasaw Commandery No. 2 at Purcell and McAlester Commandery No. 3 were established in 1894.[viii] With three Commanderies each now residing in the two territories, the ground work was laid for the creation of Grand Commanderies.

Enid Commandery No. 13, c. 1917

It was in Indian Territory that the idea for a Grand Commandery was first proposed. On December 27, 1895, a convention was held at Muskogee for the purpose of forming a Grand Commandery. Muskogee Commandery No. 1, Chickasaw Commandery No. 2, and McAlester Commandery No. 3 assembled and formed the Grand Commandery Knights Templar of Indian Territory. The first Grand Commander was Robert W. Hill of Muskogee.[ix] Indian Territory’s neighbors to the west were taking note and she would soon have a younger sister.

On November 8, 1895, the Grand Master of the Grand Encampment granted a special warrant to those Commanderies in Oklahoma Territory to form a Grand Commandery, in the same fashion as Indian Territory.[x] It is due to this allegiance to a national governing body that sister Grand Commanderies came to be in the twin territories. Though the Sir Knights of Indian Territory were the proverbial “Sooners” in the run to establish a Grand Commandery, a conclave was called at Guthrie on February 10, 1896, for the purpose of establishing such a Grand Body. That day, representatives of Guthrie Commandery No. 1, Oklahoma Commandery No. 2, and Ascension Commandery No. 3 duly formed the Grand Commandery of Oklahoma. The “lateness” of this action was apparently due in part to Ascension No. 3 not being properly instituted, an issue that was rectified shortly after being brought to the Grand Master’s attention.[xi]

In the creation of the Grand Commandery of Oklahoma, Cassius M. Barnes was once again at the helm. Having been the first Commander of Guthrie Commandery No. 1, his fellow Sir Knights of Oklahoma Territory placed their trust in him as their first Grand Commander.[xii] Upon the forming of the Grand Commandery of Oklahoma, Barnes gave a stirring address, which included these remarks:

We seek to join together in bonds that are more sacred and binding if possible than any other can be, those who have proven themselves by terms of pilgrimage and warfare through the degrees of the ancient craft; who have wrought in the quarries and brought forth good specimens of their skill in the Masonic art, and who have by successfully traveling rough and rugged roads arrived at high eminence in the Royal Arch, and by their patience and perseverance, their constancy, courage, and fortitude have demonstrated their capacity and fitness to be clothed as princes of the royal household.[xiii] 

Oklahoma Commandery No. 3 on Easter Sunday, c. 1922

As the Sir Knights marched through the years that marked the turn of the century, the merging of the two territories into one state was ever present in their minds and this also meant that the time would ultimately come for the two Grand Commanderies to consolidate. Government inaction would delay statehood, though the Sir Knights of the twin territories began discussing merging as early as 1905.[xiv] Grand Commander John Coyle of Indian Territory noted this inaction towards unification by Washington in his 1906 address with the remark “Alas, poor Congress.”[xv] It was in 1907 that statehood became a reality and the twin territories were combined into one. 

In a 1910 letter to Grand Commander Fuller of Oklahoma, the newly elected Grand Master of the Grand Encampment, William B. Melish, stated that it would give him great pleasure to hear of steps being taken towards consolidation and that he hoped to receive news of such steps while traveling in England. While the tone of the letter was certainly pleasant, such correspondence from the supreme authority of Templary in the United States was without question an ultimatum.[xvi]

Templar Parade Marshals at Tulsa, c. 1929

The two Grand Commanderies met on October 6, 1911, at the Skirvin Hotel and formed in procession at nine in the morning. The Sir Knights then marched to the “Baptist White Temple.”[xvii] Once all the remaining business of the Grand Commanderies was settled, Grand Master Melish declared the Grand Commandery of Indian Territory “closed without day forever.”[xviii] Immediately following Indian Territory surrendering her charter was the election of officers for the consolidated Grand Commandery. The first Grand Commander of the consolidated Grand Commandery of Oklahoma was Robert H. Henry of the former Indian Territory. The first Deputy Grand Commander was Guy W. Bohannon of the former Oklahoma Territory. For the first time in the history of the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the United States, two Grand Commanderies joined as one.[xix]

 

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[i]  Henry W. Coil, “Introduction of Freemasonry into America,” Coil’s Masonic Encyclopedia (Richmond:  Macoy Publishing & Masonic Supply Co., 1961), 31-33.

[ii]  “Pennsylvania Masonic History,” The Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania, <http://www.pagrandlodge.org/programs/masedu/qa/41-50.html>, Accessed 25 March 2012.

[iii]  Frederick G. Speidel, The York Rite of Freemasonry:  A History and Handbook (Mitchell-Fleming Printing Inc., 1978), 53.

[iv]  “Oklahoma Territory,” Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, <http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/O/OK085.html>, Accessed 5 April 2012.

[v]  Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the United States, Proceedings of the 25^th Triennial Conclave (Richmond:  Wm. Ellis Jones, Book and Job Printer, 1892), 42-44.

[vi]  John Bartlett Meserve, “The Governors of Oklahoma Territory,” The Chronicles of Oklahoma 3 (September 1942):  222.

[vii]  Grand Encampment, Proceedings of the 25^th Triennial Conclave, 42-44. 

[viii]  Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of Oklahoma, Proceedings of the 17^th Annual Conclave (Oklahoma:  1912).

[ix]  Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of Indian Territory, Proceedings of the 1^st Annual Conclave (Indian Territory:  1895). 

[x]  Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of Oklahoma, Proceedings of the 1^st Annual Conclave (Oklahoma Territory:  1896).  

[xi]  Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of Oklahoma, Proceedings of the 1^st Annual Conclave.

[xii]  Ibid.

[xiii]  Ibid.

[xiv]  Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of Indian Territory, Proceedings of the 11^th Annual Conclave (Indian Territory:  1905).

[xv]  Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of Indian Territory, Proceedings of the 12^th Annual Conclave (Indian Territory:  1906).

[xvi]  Charles E. Creager, History of Freemasonry in Oklahoma (Muskogee, Oklahoma:  Muskogee Print Shop, 1935), 182-183.

[xvii]  Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of Oklahoma, Special Conclave for the Purpose of Consolidation (Oklahoma:  1911).

[xviii]  Creager, 185.

[xix]  Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of Oklahoma, Special Conclave for the Purpose of Consolidation.

Muskogee Lodge No. 28: Protecting Masonic Servicemen in the Great War

By T.S. Akers

In 1917 the US Army established sixteen training camps across the country to train and integrate National Guard units for service overseas. One of those camps, Camp Doniphan, was established adjacent to Fort Sill on a 2,000 acre plot. The camp grew to have a capacity of 46,183 troops and consisted of 1,267 buildings, most of which were tents.[i] A young Harry S. Truman passed through Camp Doniphan with the 129^th Field Artillery.[ii]

The Great War saw an increased interest in fraternalism as so many men came together. In December of 1917, over two-hundred soldiers from Camp Doniphan were given passes to journey to Guthrie for a special Scottish Rite Reunion; it was the first time Oklahoma Consistory No. 1 conferred all twenty-nine degrees. Due to the number of soldiers interested in being made 32° Masons, the number of passes that could be issued at any one time was limited. With this restriction on the number of troops that could leave camp, the Guthrie Scottish Rite Bodies erected a Masonic "club house" at Camp Doniphan for the purpose of communicating the degrees to soldiers.[iii]

Guthrie Scottish Rite "Victory Class" of 1917

The Scottish Rite was not the only branch of Freemasonry that responded to the needs of men in pursuit of Masonic light. In 1918, the Grand Lodge of the State of Oklahoma appointed a Special Deputy for Camp Doniphan. Lawton Lodge No. 183 had received more than three hundred requests for the degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry. While soldiers were passing through Camp Doniphan, Lawton Lodge No. 183 would confer 143 Entered Apprentice degrees, 214 Fellowcraft degrees, and 207 Master Mason degrees.[iv] Other Lodges across Oklahoma, seeing an increase in petitions for the Degrees of Freemasonry, were granted dispensation for one day degree conferrals for those men who would be entering the service.

It was at a one day degree conferral held in Muskogee Lodge No. 28 on March 1, 1918, that William Patton Fite would become a Freemason.[v]

Dr. William P. Fite and Mary E. Smith on their wedding day in 1940.

William P. Fite was the son of Dr. Francis B. Fite, who served as mayor of Muskogee in 1905 and 1919. Francis B. Fite was also a Freemason and a member of Muskogee Commandery No. 2 Knights Templar.[vi] The younger Fite was born August 31, 1890, and graduated from the University of Virginia with a medical degree in 1916.[vii]

Fite was no stranger to military life, having entered the Shattuck Military School at age fourteen. He joined the US Army Medical Corps at Fort Sill on June 1, 1917 as a first lieutenant. During the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918, Fite was assigned to the hospital at Camp Bowie. He would go overseas with the 36^th Infantry Division in July of 1918 as a captain and serve on the front lines for eighteen days in October during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. While at the front, Fite would oversee treatment for gas attacks suffered by the 36^th Infantry Division.[viii]

Before his departure for France, the Brethren of Muskogee Lodge No. 28 presented Fite with a pocket sized Masonic patent which he carried throughout the Great War. The document, which was composed in English, French, and German, vouched for Fite as a Brother and read in part:

…commends him for brotherly care and lawful aid to any Mason who may find him in distress or need – incident to his service as an American soldier…

The patent is a stunning example of how Masonic charity and relief can transcend borders.

(From the collections of the McAlester Scottish Rite)

A total of 4,743,826 Americans served during the Great War. Around 84,000 Oklahomans comprised the American Expeditionary Force, of whom 1,317 never returned. Fite survived the trenches and was discharged from service on July 22, 1919. Coming back to Muskogee, he became Vice President of the Physicians and Surgeons Hospital, as well as surgeon for the MKT and Frisco Railroads.[ix] Fite would live until March 5, 1978.[x]

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[i]  “Camp Doniphan,” US Army Center of Military History, accessed April 30, 2018, https://history.army.mil/html/bookshelves/resmat/wwi/pt02/ch10/pt02-ch10-sec06.html.

[ii]  “World War I,” Fort Sill History, accessed April 30, 2018, http://sill-www.army.mil/History/_wars/ww1.htm.

[iii]  The Oklahoma Consistory (January 1918), Vol. 3, No. 1.

[iv]  Proceedings of the M.: W.: Grand Lodge A.F & A.M. of the State of Oklahoma: Tenth Annual Communication (Oklahoma, 1918), 47-48.

[v]  “Fite, William Patton” (member profile, Grand Lodge of the State of Oklahoma).

[vi]  Liz McMahan, “Fite Family’s Legacy Remains Alive Here Today,” Muskogee Phoenix (Muskogee, OK), June 5, 2007.

[vii]  John D. Benedict, Muskogee and Northeastern Oklahoma (Oklahoma: S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1922), 389.

[viii]  Benedict, 390.

[ix]  Ibid., 390.

[x]  “Fite, William Patton.”

Mystery at the McAlester Scottish Rite Museum: The Trowel and the Doctor

By T.S. Akers

Housed within the collections of the McAlester Scottish Rite Valley are a variety of objects, most of which serve some practical purpose as paraphernalia of Freemasonry and some of which have further stories to tell. One particular item is a ceremonial trowel inscribed:

Grand Council

of

Royal and Select Masters

of Oklahoma

Austin R. Stough

Grand Master

1956

Altar Trowel of Austin R. Stough

(From the collections of the McAlester Scottish Rite)

A trowel is an instrument made use of by operative masons to spread the cement which unites a building into one common mass. This particular ceremonial trowel served as part of the altar set of Companion Stough during his tenure as Illustrious Grand Master of Royal and Select Masters of Oklahoma. This trowel, along with the Square and Compasses and a small sword would have been placed upon the Holy Bible during tyled Masonic meetings.

The story of Austin R. Stough does not simply end there though. The piece elicits further questions. Who was Austin R. Stough and why does this trowel now reside in McAlester?

Austin R. Stough

Illustrious Grand Master of Royal and Select Masters of Oklahoma

1956-1957

Austin R. Stough was born in Geary, Oklahoma, on July 21, 1910. He went on to graduate from the University of Oklahoma in 1932 and then attended the University of Tennessee Medical School. He came to settle in McAlester and began a private practice in 1939.[i]

Stough took the degrees of Freemasonry in South McAlester Lodge No. 96, being initiated an Entered Apprentice on December 9, 1945, and raised to the degree of Master Mason in February of 1946. He joined the York Rite soon thereafter, holding membership in Indian Chapter No. 1 Royal Arch Masons, Union Council No. 3 Royal and Select Masters, and McAlester Commandery No. 6 Knights Templar. Stough also joined the McAlester Valley of the Scottish Rite in 1946.[ii]

As the Oklahoma representative to the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of Ireland, Stough was given the distinction of Honorary Past Grand High Priest of Ireland. He was also a member of Joseph of Arimathea Tabernacle of the Holy Royal Arch Knights Templar Priests. Stough had the distinction of being the first Illustrious Grand Master of Royal and Select Masters of Oklahoma to be born in Oklahoma.[iii]

By all accounts, Stough was an active and upstanding Freemason in McAlester; but his Masonic career only tells half the story of who Austin R. Stough was. By 1939, he was serving as physician on a part-time basis at the State Penitentiary. It was there that Stough embarked upon a new business venture with several pharmaceutical companies to conduct voluntary drug tests on inmates. While the inmates who participated in the studies were compensated a dollar a day, the payoff for Stough proved much larger. He soon expanded into other state prisons, ultimately conducting 25 to 50 percent of initial drug trials in the United States up to 1964. Stough would ultimately move into plasma collection in the prisons of Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Alabama.[iv]

Stough was able grow his plasma collection business outside of the state prison of Oklahoma by bringing prison physicians in Arkansas and Alabama onto his payroll. Operating under at least nine separate entities, Stough was grossing $1 million a year providing roughly a fourth of the nation’s plasma supply.[v]

The conditions under which Stough’s plasma collection operated quickly came under scrutiny. He began plasma collection at the state prison in McAlester in March of 1962. On September 19 of the same year, a technician working for Stough drew blood from an Oklahoma inmate whose blood type was O-positive. Once the plasma was drawn off, the technician re-injected the inmate with another man’s cells. Unfortunately, that blood was A-negative and the inmate suffered organ damage.[vi]

Cutter Laboratories, a consumer of Stough’s plasma, once noted that gross contamination was apparent in Stough’s operation, with the collection rooms being sloppy. This did not stop Cutter Laboratories from doing business with Stough though, as he had contacts with well-placed officials that could continue to provide access to a plasma donor pool. When Oklahoma legislators began to investigate if Stough was operating within the law, he retained the services of McAlester attorney, and State Senator, Gene Stipe for $1,000 a month. A law protecting Stough’s plasma collection was soon pushed through the Legislature.[vii]

In 1964, the conditions in which Stough operated his plasma collection venture came into serious question. At the Kilby prison in Alabama, one tenth of the population contracted viral hepatitis as a result of giving plasma. At least four inmates in Alabama died of hepatitis, one in Arkansas, and one in Oklahoma. Ultimately, the three states in which Stough operated closed their prison doors to him, but continued to collect plasma from inmates.[viii]

Stough faced no real repercussions for the disease his operation spread or the deaths he caused. He opened a private plasma collection center in Birmingham, Alabama, and a second in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1968. Stough moved the headquarters of Stough Enterprises to Cincinnati that year, though he would die shortly thereafter in 1972. In 1994, Stough Enterprises acquired the Hanke Building in Cincinnati, with renovation plans to include a bar called the Cell Block.[ix] Perhaps this was a nod to the company’s prison beginnings.

Freemasonry teaches a system of ethics and morality designed to help men become good role models to their family, their community, and their friends. Stough sought to provide a much needed service to the country with his plasma collection. In this way, he attempted to be a good role model. In Freemasonry, to Guard the West Gate means to be diligent in who is allowed into the Craft. But as a Freemason, one should also work to Guard the West Gate of their own bodily temple. In this way, Stough sacrificed much in the pursuit of fortune.

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[i]  Proceedings of the Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters of Oklahoma: 63^rd Annual Assembly (Oklahoma: Masonic Home Boys, 1957).

[ii]  Proceedings of the Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters of Oklahoma: 63^rd Annual Assembly.

[iii]  Ibid.

[iv]  Walter Rugaber, “Prison Drug and Plasma Projects Leave Fatal Trail,” The New York Times (New York City, NY), July 29, 1969.

[v]  Rugaber.

[vi]  Ibid.

[vii]  Ibid.

[viii]  Ibid.

[ix]  Dan Monk, “Infusion of real estate adds to Stough’s growth; Stough Enterprises Inc,” Cincinnati Business Courier (Cincinnati, OH), April 10, 1998.

The Masonic Children's Home of Oklahoma

By T.S. Akers

To contribute to the relief of all worthy distressed Master Masons, their wives, widows, and orphans is a phrase Freemasons wherever they may be dispersed are familiar with. Relief is itself one of the three Tenets of Freemasonry and the practice of relief a vital component of the Fraternity. Though Freemasonry was young in what would become the state of Oklahoma, the dedication to Masonic relief was innate.

While funds were certainly limited, the men who worked to establish the Grand Lodge of Indian Territory in 1874 knew that they must perpetuate the practice of Masonic relief. The care of orphans during this time fell upon the constituent Lodges. Ten years after the establishment of the Grand Lodge of Indian Territory, the relief of Masonic orphans was either sparsely reported to the Grand Lodge or the need at the local level was minimal. In 1884, only Ok-la-ho-ma Lodge No. 4 reported tending to the needs of children, expending $64.70 (roughly $1,500 in today’s money) to assist children in attending school.[i] To better see to the needs of orphans, a resolution was passed in 1888 requiring that:

A Special Committee be appointed to devise a plan for the systematic Education of Masonic orphans, raise funds therefor and secure legal title to a suitable body of land on which to erect a Masonic Orphanage for the Grand Lodge of Indian Territory.[ii]

By 1898, little had been done towards establishing a home for Masonic orphans. Grand Master James A. Scott spent the duration of his year in office visiting Lodges in an effort to secure funds for a home, resulting in the first $1,000 being designated solely for the project.[iii]

While no home had been established, the care of orphans during this time continued by local Lodges and the number of children requiring assistance rose. A total of forty-nine children were being cared for by Lodges in 1898.[iv] It was likely this growing need that led Grand Master Scott to call for the establishment of a per capita tax to be levied on the membership for the purpose of establishing a children’s home.[v] By 1900, the number of orphans being cared for by Lodges had risen to seventy-one, and still no home had been created. That same year, the Grand Lodge of Indian Territory made Henry M. Furman Financial Agent for the Orphan’s Home with the direction to travel the Territory and solicit funds for the Home. Furman was opposed to the taxation that Scott wanted, believing the relief of Masonic orphans should be a “free will offering, a labor of love.” Furman was ultimately overruled and the Grand Lodge chose to designate twenty-five percent of its gross receipts from constituent Lodges for the purpose of a home. By 1903, a total of $16,159.37 had been designated for the Orphan’s Home.[vi] 

It took until 1907 for the Grand Lodge of Indian Territory to actually move forward with a Children’s Home, passing a resolution to locate it temporarily at Atoka. To head the enterprise, McAlester businessman William Busby was named president of the Board of Control.[vii] The accommodations secured at Atoka were actually located at the Murrow Indian Orphans’ Home.[viii] Joseph S. Murrow, Past Grand Master and Grand Secretary of Indian Territory, had opened his Indian orphanage in 1902.[ix] The location of the Masonic Children’s Home at Atoka was to be very temporary indeed. By 1908 the Murrow Indian Orphans’ Home needed to sell the property occupied by the Masonic orphans.[x] The Murrow Indian Orphans’ Home would itself move to Bacone College in 1910.[xi]

The Masonic Children's Home at Atoka

(Courtesy of the Grand Lodge of the State of Oklahoma)

In the Oklahoma Territory, William L. Eagleton had closely been watching the efforts of the Grand Lodge of Indian Territory. When Eagleton became Grand Master of Oklahoma in 1900, he sought to create a fund for a Masonic Home, calling for a twenty-five cent per capita tax on the membership and a ten percent appropriation from the Grand Lodge each year.[xii] With the consolidation of the Grand Lodge of Indian Territory and the Grand Lodge of Oklahoma in 1909, a combined effort to contribute to the relief of Masonic orphans was born. The Federal government had abandoned the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Agency at Darlington and was selling the property as surplus. The city of El Reno had been given the option to purchase the property, but they chose to surrender their rights to the Masons.[xiii] For the sum of $73,882, the newly formed Grand Lodge of the State of Oklahoma purchased 676 acres and twenty buildings which comprised the Darlington Agency. Moving from Atoka in 1910, the new Masonic Home would house both children and the elderly.[xiv]

The Darlington Agency

The location for the Masonic Home at Darlington proved to be a poor choice. The twenty buildings that comprised the old Indian agency and its associated farm were in bad need of repair. The property was five miles from the city of El Reno and weather could make the roads leading to Darlington impassible. Owing to this, schooling was conducted on site and the Grand Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star of Oklahoma erected a chapel on the grounds for church services in 1913. It was ultimately decided to move the Masonic Home in 1922. The location decided upon was Guthrie, home to the Grand Lodge offices. The City of Guthrie offered twenty-eight acres, along with access to Guthrie schools, and the Methodist hospital offered a reduced rate for services.[xv]

The Masonic Children's Home at Guthrie

While construction of the new Masonic Children’s Home was being completed, the 125 children and 20 elderly persons from Darlington moved into the old Guthrie Convention Hall in 1922. Now owned by the Scottish Rite Masons, the Convention Hall was converted into a dormitory to temporarily house the Home residents.[xvi] The cornerstone to the new Home was laid by Grand Master Leslie H. Swan in early 1923.[xvii] The building, in the federal style, was designed by Hawk & Parr and completed at a cost of $500,000. The new Home included a gymnasium and an indoor swimming pool with marble tile, a gift of E.W. Marland. The children would finally move in on November 23, 1923.[xviii] The decision had been made to house the elderly Home residents separately and the Home for the Aged would open in 1927 with thirty-seven residents.[xix]

For children who find themselves without parents, the world can be a frightening place. The Masons of Oklahoma made every effort to make life for the orphans at the Masonic Children’s Home as normal as possible. The storerooms at the Home were stocked with over fifty varieties of food and every article of clothing necessary. The children were also supplied with the various notions necessary to life and clean bed linens. At Christmas the Order of the Eastern Star provided the children with gifts. There were also trips to Belle Isle Park in Oklahoma City in the summer, with transportation provided by the India Shrine Temple.[xx]

Additionally, effort was made to prepare the children for adulthood. A garden was established in 1932, which the boys tended to along with the orchard. These provided for fresh fruits and vegetables; the surplus was canned by the girls for the winter. The girls also learned needlework and household management. Some of the children even received further education ranging from college courses to summer school.[xxi] To further vocational education at the Home, the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of Oklahoma appropriated $12,000 for the erection of a building to house a print shop.[xxii] The older children who came to work in the Masonic Print Shop learned linotyping, press work, and binding. The shop provided most of the printed material for the Masonic Fraternity in Oklahoma, which in turn allowed the children to earn a wage.[xxiii] The Second World War would also see former Home children answer the call, with at least fifty-four entering the service. One of whom, Roy Watkins, would not return from the Philippines.[xxiv]

The Masonic Print Shop at Guthrie
 

Interior view of the Masonic Print Shop at Guthrie

(Courtesy of the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of Oklahoma)

A print block used for the Grand Commandery proceedings produced at the Masonic Print Shop.

(From the collection of T.S. Akers)

The number of residents at the Masonic Children’s Home dipped to its lowest point in 1944, with just thirty children living there.[xxv] This trend continued over the years with a sort of ebb and flow. A resolution approved by the Grand Lodge of Oklahoma in 1957 allowed for children without any Masonic background to be admitted to the Home. By 1966, of the fifty children residing at the Home, only six were the children of Masons. The year 1972 would find only twenty-one children being cared for by the Masons. This prompted proposals in 1974 to close the Home and either secure a large house in Guthrie for the children or send them back to their sponsoring Lodges. Ultimately, just the dormitories were closed and all of the children moved into the main Home building. This was short lived though, as in 1978, only three children were still at the Home. Other accommodations were made for the remaining children and the trust that operated the home was dissolved by court order. The $95,000 that remained in the trust was dispersed to other Masonic charities.[xxvi]

A chapter in Oklahoma Masonic relief closed, the property that was the Masonic Children’s Home sold in 1982 to a developer intending to turn the main building into apartments and build townhomes on the twenty-eight acres.[xxvii] This project never came to fruition and the property sat neglected for many years. Today, the former Masonic Children’s Home stands as the Dominion House, an event center, hotel, and restaurant.[xxviii]

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[i]  Proceedings of the M.: W.: Grand Lodge A.F & A.M. of the Indian Territory: Tenth Annual Communication (Sedalia, Missouri: Democrat Steam Printing House and Book Bindery, 1884), 31.

[ii]  Proceedings of the M.: W.: Grand Lodge A.F. & A.M. of the Indian Territory: Fourteenth Annual Communication (Muskogee, Ind. Ter.: Phoenix Steam Printing Company, 1888), 23.

[iii]  Charles E. Creager, History of Freemasonry in Oklahoma (Muskogee, Oklahoma: Muskogee Print Shop, 1935), 214.

[iv]  Proceedings of the M.: W.: Grand Lodge A.F. & A.M. of the Indian Territory: Twenty-Fifth Annual Communication (Muskogee, Ind. Ter.: Phoenix Steam Printing Company, 1898), 52.

[v]  Proceedings (1898), 20.

[vi]  Creager, 218-219.

[vii]  William H. Phelps, Memories: Oklahoma Masonic Children’s Home (Oklahoma Lodge of Research, 1995), 1.

[viii]  Creager, 234.

[ix]  “Murrow Indian Orphan Home Atoka County Oklahoma,” Oklahoma Genealogy Trails, accessed March 27, 2018, http://genealogytrails.com/oka/atoka/murrow.html.

[x]  Creager, 234.

[xi]  “Murrow Indian Orphan Home Atoka County Oklahoma.”

[xii]  Robert G. Davis and James T. Tresner, Indians, Cowboys, Cornerstones, and Charities: A Centennial Celebration of Freemasonry in Oklahoma (Guthrie, Oklahoma: The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of the State of Oklahoma Library and Museum, 2009), 100.

[xiii]  Creager, 235.

[xiv]  Pamela Webb, “Taking Care of Their Own: History of the Masonic Children’s Home in Guthrie, Oklahoma,” The Chronicles of Oklahoma 95, no. 4 (2017-2018): 436.

[xv]  Webb: 438-440.

[xvi]  Ibid.: 441.

[xvii]  Davis and Tresner, 108.

[xviii]  Webb: 444.

[xix]  Davis and Tresner, 110.

[xx]  Phelps, 19.

[xxi]  Ibid., 18-23.

[xxii]  Norman E. Angel, History of the Grand Chapter of the Royal Arch Masons of Oklahoma (Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of Oklahoma, 1964), 48.

[xxiii]  Phelps, 23.

[xxiv]  Ibid., 25-26.

[xxv]  Ibid., 26.

[xxvi]  Ibid., 32-34.

[xxvii]  Marilyn Staton, “Masonic Home for Children in Guthrie Sold,” The Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, OK), May 19, 1982.

[xxviii]  “A Rich History,” Dominion House, accessed March 27, 2018, http://www.dominionhouseguthrie.com/about/history/.