By T.S. Akers
Recently the town of Guthrie,
Oklahoma, played host to a
historic event. On the first weekend of
September in 2013 over 50,000 people flocked to the first capital of Oklahoma
for the Mumford and Sons Gentlemen of the Road Stopover music festival. In an interview with a local television
station, the band Mumford and Sons noted they chose Guthrie owing to its
“weird” history.[i] This of course was not the first time the
population of Guthrie exploded overnight with a thriving tent city. It was on April 22, 1889, that roughly 50,000 settlers raced across
the prairie to stake their land claims.
On that day, the bustling town of Guthrie
sprang into existence. Owing to the
number of people wanting lots within the city limits, four towns were actually
established in what is present-day Guthrie: Guthrie, East Guthrie, West
Guthrie, and Capitol Hill. With the
passage of the Organic Act in 1890, the four towns were merged as one with
Guthrie serving as the territorial and then state capital until 1913.[ii]
Those men who came to Guthrie to start new lives in a new
territory brought with them their various associations, including
Freemasonry. Much of the architecture
that came to comprise the Victorian city of Guthrie
still exists as it has become the nation’s largest Historic Preservation
District.[iii] Walking the streets of Guthrie can transport
a visitor to a bygone era. To the
benefit of Masonic historians and lovers of architecture, many of those early
Masonic edifices of Guthrie stand today, offering a glimpse of early
territorial Freemasonry.
The second home of Guthrie Masonic Lodge No. 35
(Courtesy of T.S. Akers)
Like all Masonic journeys, one must begin with Ancient Craft
Masonry. Four short months after the
Land Run of ’89, a dispensation to work was issued to what would become Guthrie
Lodge No. 35 on August 29, 1889, with a charter being issued the following
November by the Grand Lodge of Indian Territory. The building Guthrie Lodge No. 35 first met
in no longer stands, but the second does.
The structure residing at 121 E. Oklahoma
Avenue was completed around 1902 at a cost of
$15,000. Guthrie Lodge No. 35 moved from
this building to the Grand Lodge building around 1926 but returned to the 121
E. Oklahoma Avenue structure in the 1960s. The Brethren of Guthrie Lodge No. 35
continued to meet there until 1994.[iv] Today the building houses the Double Stop
Fiddle Shop and Music Hall.
The De Steiguer Building
(Courtesy of T.S. Akers)
What is probably the most prominent Masonic structure in the
City of Guthrie is the Scottish
Rite Temple residing at the end of Oklahoma Avenue. The temple that stands today is actually the
third meeting place of the Guthrie Valley
of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
After the Guthrie Valley
was organized by Harper S. Cunningham on January 19, 1896, the Brethren commenced meeting in the De
Steiguer Building which still stands at 110 and 112 E.
Oklahoma Avenue.[v] The cornerstone for the first Scottish Rite
Temple in Guthrie was laid by Grand Master of Masons William L. Eagleton on October 4, 1899 at the corner of Broad
Street and Harrison
Avenue. On May 26, 1900, the Scottish Rite
Brethren of Guthrie opened the doors of their new temple for the public to see.[vi] In time, the Guthrie
Valley of the Scottish Rite outgrew
its first temple and transferred the building to the Grand Lodge of the State
of Oklahoma in 1922.[vii] The first temple, deemed unsuitable for use,
was razed in the 1950s.[viii]
The Guthrie Scottish
Rite Temple
(Courtesy of T.S. Akers)
Upon transferring the first Scottish Rite Temple to the
Grand Lodge, the Brethren of Guthrie set out to erect their second temple. Guthrie had originally served as the capital
of Oklahoma Territory
and at the end of Oklahoma Avenue
sat a prime piece of property that was to serve as Capitol
Park. The City of Guthrie
erected a convention hall there for the purpose of a capitol building. Unfortunately, Guthrie lost the bid to serve
as the state capital on June 11, 1910. The Methodist
Church in Oklahoma
and Texas then showed an interest
in the convention hall, hoping to occupy it as the Methodist
University. Ultimately, the church could not support a
campus in Guthrie and closed it in May of 1919.[ix] The very next month, the City of Guthrie
agreed to transfer the convention hall and area known as Capitol
Park to the Guthrie
Valley of the Scottish Rite for one
dollar.[x] Standing as a testament to the men of Guthrie
Scottish Rite, the second temple was completed in 1924 and would be labeled the
largest Masonic structure in the world.[xi] The original convention hall also remains
connected by way of a corridor, though now serving as a dining hall and hotel
for Brethren attending events at the temple.
The Masonic Children's Home
(Courtesy of T.S. Akers)
While downtown Guthrie contains many architectural
treasures, another former Masonic jewel resides just off the beaten path. In 1907 the Grand Lodge of Indian Territory
established a Masonic Home at Atoka for orphans and the elderly. By Act of Congress, the Grand Lodge was able to
purchase the former Cheyenne-Arapaho Indian
School at Darlington
and the Home was moved there in 1910. In
1922 the Home moved again, this time to Guthrie.[xii] It was ultimately decided that the elderly
should be housed separately from the children and they occupied their own
quarters. Located at 602
E. College Avenue, what was originally the Masonic
Children’s Home now serves as a wedding and event venue. The campus originally contained numerous
structures including a print shop for Masonic publications financed by the
Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of Oklahoma.[xiii] Today only the federal style main building
and gymnasium, now a ballroom, remain.
Freemasonry remained an active force in Guthrie in the
latter half of the twentieth century as well.
The current home of the Grand Lodge of the State of Oklahoma
is situated on the same block as the original Scottish Rite Temple, which was
once home to the Grand Lodge. A uniquely
modern building, the cornerstone was laid in 1955.[xiv] Other more recent structures dedicated to
Freemasonry include the former Masonic Retirement Home and the headquarters of
the Grand Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star of Oklahoma. As can be seen, Freemasonry has gone hand in
hand with the “weird” history of Guthrie since the beginning.
[i] "News 9 Sits Down With Mumford &
Sons Before They Rock Guthrie,” News9.com,
<http://www.news9.com/story/23370338/news-9-sits-down-with-mumford-sons-before-they-rock-guthrie>,
Accessed 6 October 2013.
[ii] “Guthrie,” Oklahoma Historical Society’s
Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History
and Culture,
<http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/g/gu003.html>,
Accessed 6 October 2013.
[iii] “Guthrie Awaits Eager Suitors Nation's
Largest Historic Preservation District Ready to Make Its Entrance,” NewsOK.com,
<http://newsok.com/guthrie-awaits-eager-suitors-nations-largest-historic-preservation-district-ready-to-make-its-entrance/article/2243331>,
Accessed 6 October 2013.
[iv] “About Guthrie Masonic Lodge No. 35,” Guthrie
Masonic Lodge No. 35, <http://www.guthrielodge35.org/about.php>, Accessed
6 October 2013.
[v] Robert G. Davis and Frank A. Derr, 100
Years of Scottish Rite Masonry in the Valley
of Guthrie (Oklahoma:
Guthrie Valley AASR), 11-12.
[vi] Ibid., 28-44.
[vii] Ibid., 104.
[viii] Ibid., 177-178.
[ix] Ibid., 79-85.
[x] Ibid., 90-91.
[xi] Ibid., 128-134.
[xii] William H. Phelps, Memories:
Oklahoma Masonic Children’s Home (Oklahoma: Oklahoma Lodge of
Research, 1995), 2-16.
[xiii] Norman E. Angel, Kenneth S. Adams, and
William A. Hensley, History of the Grand Chapter of the Royal Arch Masons of
Oklahoma (Oklahoma:
1964), 52.
[xiv] “1955 - Oklahoma Grand Lodge - Guthrie,
OK,” Waymarking.com,
<http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMGAXW_1955_Oklahoma_Grand_Lodge_Guthrie_OK>,
Accessed 6 October 2013.
