By. T.S. Akers
Oklahoma has two great Masonic cities. One had dreams of being the state capital and it would ultimately serve in a similar capacity as it became home to the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of the State of Oklahoma. The vestiges of Freemasonry are still very evident in Guthrie, ranging from the old Masonic Children’s Home to the imposing Scottish Rite Temple perched atop what was to be Capitol Hill at the end of Oklahoma Avenue. The other city was born of a Freemason and though many of her Masonic halls are now fading memories, such as Mount Moriah, McAlester is still one of the great Masonic cities of Oklahoma.
McAlester is
named for the famed merchant of Indian Territory James J. McAlester, who was
immortalized by Charles Portis in his novel True Grit.[i] McAlester
was born in Sebastian County, Arkansas on October 1, 1842.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, McAlester
volunteered for service in the Confederate Army, rising to the rank of Captain.[ii] McAlester
was present at the Battle of Pea Ridge in 1862 and escorted the body of the
Late General Benjamin McCulloch to Fort Smith.[iii]
James J. McAlester
(Courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society)
(Courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society)
McAlester took up residence in Fort Smith after the Civil War, boarding with an engineer by the name of Oliver Weldon who had surveyed the Indian Territory. Armed with Weldon’s memorandum book that noted the coal outcrops at the crossroads of the Texas and California Roads, McAlester set out for Indian Territory.[iv] Serving as a teamster, McAlester was helping transport a saw-mill to Fort Sill. In about 1868, McAlester became a salesman for the firm of Reynolds and Hannaford; ultimately buying out his partners.[v] It was in 1869 that McAlester opened his general store, in a tent, at “The Crossroads.”[vi]
A few years later in 1872, McAlester
married Rebecca Burney, sister of future Chickasaw Governor Ben Burney, which
gave McAlester full citizenship in
the Chickasaw Nation as well as rights in the Choctaw Nation.[vii] This allowed McAlester
to stake a claim in the coal deposits at “The Crossroads.”[viii]
Owing to the quality of the coal in the area,
which McAlester had a controlling
interest in, the MKT Railroad established a line through what was then Tobucksy
County. This would help the city of McAlester
to flourish.[ix] Officials of the MKT Railroad gave the railway
stop at the “The Crossroads” the name McAlester.[x]
McAlester
accepted his first political appointment as a Democrat in 1893 as United States
Marshal having jurisdiction over matters with the Choctaw Nation, a post he
would hold until 1897.[xi] McAlester
sold his mercantile to another area Mason, William Busby, in 1904.[xii] It was during this period that McAlester
was engaged in banking. In 1901, McAlester
appeared in the City Directory of Denison, Texas, as Vice President of the
National Bank of Denison.[xiii]
By 1905, McAlester
was serving as President of the Bank of McAlester.[xiv] McAlester’s
banking interests secured him a seat on the Corporation Commission after
Statehood for a term from 1907 to 1911.[xv] McAlester
left the Corporation Commission to serve as the second Lieutenant Governor
under Governor Lee Cruce. McAlester
was acting Governor in the absence of Cruce on at least one occasion, as
evidenced by his issuing a pardon in 1915 in the case of Sibenaler v State.[xvi]
For all that McAlester
did to see that the city that bore his name flourished; he was an equal
proponent of Freemasonry. Records indicate
that McAlester affiliated with Muscogee
(Eufaula) Lodge No. 1 in December of 1876, serving as Junior Warden of that
Lodge in 1877.[xvii] McAlester Lodge No. 9 was chartered by the
Grand Lodge of Indian Territory on September
5, 1877.[xviii] McAlester
then affiliated with Lodge No. 9 in 1878.[xix]
McAlester would
go on to be a charter member of two Masonic bodies in Southeastern
Oklahoma. In 1878, McAlester
along with a number of other Companions petitioned for a Chapter of Royal Arch
Masons and a charter was granted to Indian Chapter No. 1 in August of 1880.[xx] McAlester
was also one of the Sir Knights who petitioned for a Commandery of Knights
Templar in 1894.[xxi]
When the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of Indian
Territory was formed in 1890, McAlester
was elected the first Grand Treasurer.[xxii]
McAlester
also served as first Grand Treasurer of the Grand Commandery Knights Templar of
Indian Territory in 1895.[xxiii]
As further evidence of his financial
prowess, McAlester also saw service
as Grand Treasurer of the Grand Lodge of Indian Territory from 1878 to 1879 and
1889 to 1899.[xxiv]
J.J. McAlester in Templar uniform with Frank Smith, Past Grand Commander of Indian Territory
(Unknown Source)
(Unknown Source)
James J. McAlester laid down the working tools of life on September 21, 1920, in the city that
bore his name.[xxv] As a testament to his life, the Oklahoman
noted the following on McAlester’s
death:
Followed probably by the largest
concourse of mourners ever witnessed in this city, the remains of Col. J.J.
McAlester were buried today in the Masonic cemetery here. Funeral services were
conducted at the residence and were heard by nearly 2,000 people.
Out of respect for the memory of Colonel McAlester and the fact that he was the founder of this city, business and industrial life of the city was at a standstill from 2 until 4 o'clock this afternoon.
Preceding the funeral at the home, the Kadosh funeral rites were exemplified at the Masonic temple at midnight. In the procession behind the funeral bier on its way to the cemetery were the allied Masonic bodies, in which Colonel McAlester had been active, the confederate veterans in uniform, the allied civic organizations, 200 members of the chamber of commerce, the United Daughters of the Confederacy and other women's organizations.[xxvi]
Out of respect for the memory of Colonel McAlester and the fact that he was the founder of this city, business and industrial life of the city was at a standstill from 2 until 4 o'clock this afternoon.
Preceding the funeral at the home, the Kadosh funeral rites were exemplified at the Masonic temple at midnight. In the procession behind the funeral bier on its way to the cemetery were the allied Masonic bodies, in which Colonel McAlester had been active, the confederate veterans in uniform, the allied civic organizations, 200 members of the chamber of commerce, the United Daughters of the Confederacy and other women's organizations.[xxvi]
The hand of James J. McAlester can still be seen across the
city of McAlester today, from the
buildings that bore his name to the Masonic halls he once graced, McAlester
lives on in the city he helped establish.
[i] “History of McAlester.”
McAlester, OK, accessed May 7,
2014, http://www.cityofmcalester.com/index.aspx?nid=130.
[ii] LaRadius Allen, “McAlester,
James Jackson (1842-1920),” Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, accessed
May 7, 2014, http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/M/MC003.html.
[iii] Clyde Wooldridge, McAlester:
The Capital of Little Dixie : A History of
McAlester, Krebs and South
McAlester (Rich Hill, MO: Bell
Books, 2001), 8-9.
[iv] Allen.
[v] Wooldridge, 8-9.
[vi] Jeanne LeFlore, “McAlester History,” McAlester
News-Capital, last modified July
23, 2013, http://www.mcalesternews.com/local/x1724758902/McAlester-History.
[vii] Allen.
[viii] Ibid.
[ix] Wooldridge, 8-9.
[x] Paul Nesbitt, “J.J. McAlester,” Chronicles
of Oklahoma 11, no. 2
(1933): 758-764.
[xi] “Necrology,” Chronicles of Oklahoma
5, no. 3 (1927): 352.
[xii] Wooldridge, 69.
[xiii] “James Jackson McAlester,” Grayson County
TXGenWeb, accessed May 7, 2014,
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txgrayso/Ethnic/Native%20American/Choctaw/Choctaw_JamesMcAlester.html.
[xiv] Wooldridge, 80.
[xv] “Necrology.”
[xvi] “James Jackson McAlester,” Grayson
County TXGenWeb.
[xvii] “McAlester,
James Jackson” (member profile, Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of the State of
Oklahoma AF&AM).
[xviii] Oklahoma
Masonic Centennial Lodges 1874-1974 (Oklahoma: Oklahoma Lodge of Research,
1974), 9.
[xix] “McAlester,
James Jackson” (member profile).
[xx] Norman E. Angel, Kenneth S. Adams, and
William A. Hensley, History of the Grand Chapter of the Royal Arch Masons of
Oklahoma (Oklahoma:
1964), 2-3.
[xxi] “McAlester Commandery No. 3” (charter, Grand
Encampment of Knights Templar of the United
States of America, August 29, 1895).
[xxii] Angel, 12.
[xxiii] Grand Commandery Knights Templar of Oklahoma,
Proceedings of the 118th Annual Conclave (Oklahoma: 2013).
[xxiv] “McAlester,
James Jackson” (member profile).
[xxv] Allen.
[xxvi] “Capt. James Jackson McAlester,” Find A
Grave, accessed May 7, 2014,
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=13398592.
