By T.S. Akers
After a series of treaties and the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the new Muscogee (Creek) Nation, with a section carved out in 1856 for the Seminole Nation, ran from roughly the eastern borders of present day Wagoner, Muskogee, and McIntosh Counties, following the South Canadian River to present-day Seminole County, and then along the North Canadian River to what was the Cherokee Outlet.[1] In the wake of the Civil War, the Five Tribes were punished by the United States for their involvement with the Confederacy. The Muscogee Nation was further reduced in 1866, with the western boundary now ending at the far edges of present-day Creek, Okfuskee, and Hughes Counties. Following the Land Run of 1889, the territorial boundaries would again be altered in 1890 with the formation of the Oklahoma Territory. In the former Muscogee Nation, on the banks of the North Canadian River, a new town had come into existence on April 22, 1889. That town was Oklahoma City.[2]
Those who worked to build Oklahoma City from nothing on the prairie brought with them the various trappings of culture from their former homes. One such element was that of Freemasonry and a dispensation was issued for Masons residing in the newly formed town to meet as North Canadian Lodge on September 17, 1889, by the Grand Lodge of the Indian Territory. They were granted a charter as North Canadian Lodge No. 36 in November of the same year.[3] By 1892, those lodges now residing in Oklahoma Territory formed their own grand lodge and the lodge at Oklahoma City became known as Oklahoma Lodge No. 3 under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of the Territory of Oklahoma.[4] (At this time, the town we know as Oklahoma City today was simply known as Oklahoma.)
With the establishment of a Craft lodge in Oklahoma City came other Masonic orders. Cyrus Chapter No. 7, Royal Arch Masons, was granted a charter to operate on November 6, 1890.[5] India Temple of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine was established in 1893.[6] The Knights Templar found a home in Oklahoma City on March 5, 1892. A dispensation was granted to Henry H. Moose, Eminent Commander; Deforest D. Leach, Generalissimo; James W. Johnson, Captain-General; and thirteen other Sir Knights to open a Commandery to be known as Oklahoma Commandery No. 2. (Guthrie Commandery No. 1 had the honor of being the first commandery formed in the territory on July 12, 1890.)[7] By August, Oklahoma Commandery No. 2 had created seventeen new Sir Knights, highlighting the popularity of Freemasonry in the new city.[8] To house these Masonic bodies and their growing membership, the first temple in Oklahoma City was erected in 1893 at the intersection of Main and Broadway.[9] Within a few short years in 1896, the Grand Commandery of Oklahoma was formed by Sir Knights from Guthrie Commandery No. 1, Oklahoma Commandery No. 2, and Ascension Commandery No. 3 (stationed at El Reno). The man selected as the first Deputy Grand Commander, who became the second Grand Commander, was Deforest D. Leach of Oklahoma Commandery No. 2.[10]
DeForest D. Leach’s term as Grand Commander concluded with Oklahoma Commandery No. 2 hosting the annual conclave of the Grand Commandery of Oklahoma for the first time in 1898. In his address to the Sir Knights, Leach remarked:
Sir Knights, I greet you, and it is with great pleasure I announce that Templarism, in Oklahoma, is in a prosperous and healthy condition, and that not one 'ripple of discord' has broken the 'even tenor of its way.'[11]
A charter member of Oklahoma Commandery No. 2, Leach was an attorney who had served in the 28th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment during the Civil War. He took the degrees of Freemasonry in Black Hawk Lodge No. 1 of Colorado in 1864 and became a Knight Templar in Hugh de Payen Commandery No. 1 of Arkansas while serving as a circuit judge there. Upon his arrival in Oklahoma Territory, Leach began serving as the Register in the U.S. Land Office.[12]By 1901 the membership of Oklahoma Commandery No. 2 had grown to sixty-seven Sir Knights. The membership roster included University of Oklahoma professors, such as Edwin DeBarr who was serving as Eminent Commander that year, and Oklahoma City pioneers such as Charles F. Colcord, Henry Overholser, and George J. Shields.[13] Oklahoma Commandery No. 2 would come to be the largest in its jurisdiction by 1910, with 181 Sir Knights.[14] That membership included Sir Knights who had come from various jurisdictions as Oklahoma City came to life on the prairie. Owing to this, it was noted in the commandery inspection reports of 1910 that the ritual and uniforms of Oklahoma Commandery No. 2 were “not quite regular.”[15]
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Freemasonry in Oklahoma City continued to grow with the chartering of Alpha Council No. 18, Royal & Select Masters in 1909.[17] The following year, Oklahoma Commandery No. 2 move into its third home after a short period at the corner of 2nd and Broadway. With Freemasonry growing at a steady rate, the Masonic orders of Oklahoma City had purchased a new building located at 400 North Broadway in 1910. The Baptist White Temple, as the building was known, was white in color and had been built by the First Baptist Church of Oklahoma City in 1906. The building was described as the only pure Doric Temple in America and was said to have been built “without the sound of saw or hammer” in the manner of Solomon’s Temple.[18] Oklahoma Commandery No. 2 hosted the Grand Commandery conclave in its new temple in February of 1911; an event they were no stranger to, having now hosted the annual conclave seven times since 1898.[19]
While statehood had come for Oklahoma in 1907, Templary in Oklahoma remained divided; even though the two territorial grand lodges had merged in 1909. The Grand Commandery of the Indian Territory, which was formed in 1895, had been in talks with the Grand Commandery of Oklahoma to discuss merging the two grand jurisdictions as early as 1905. Finally, in 1911, the Sir Knights of Indian Territory agreed to merging with Oklahoma and the White Temple of Oklahoma City would serve as the venue for that august occasion. On October 6, 1911, both Grand Commanderies met at the Skirvin Hotel and formed in procession at nine in the morning. The procession was led by Sir Knight Orin Ashton mounted on a white steed with the Knights Templar band immediately behind him. The massed Knights, which included Grand Master William B. Melish of the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the United States, then marched north from the Skirvin Hotel to the White Temple. There, after concluding the necessary business, Grand Master Melish declared the Grand Commandery of the Indian Territory “closed without day forever.”[20] With the merging of the two grand commanderies, the commanderies were renumbered according to their dates of chartering, or date of dispensation if two commanderies were chartered the same day. It was then than Oklahoma Commandery No. 2 became Oklahoma Commandery No. 3, as Muskogee Commandery No. 2 (No. 1 in Indian Territory) had an earlier date of dispensation.
One of the more memorable days for Oklahoma Commandery No. 3 occurred on November 16, 1915. Having been granted a dispensation to do so by Grand Commander James A. Scott, the Sir Knights of Oklahoma Commandery No. 3 acted as an escort to the Grand Lodge for the purpose of laying the cornerstone of the State Capitol.[21] After the Grand Lodge was convened in emergent communication at the Oklahoma City Masonic Temple, a procession was formed which included Governor Robert L. Williams in its ranks and marched to the State Capitol. At four o’clock in the afternoon, the massive granite cornerstone was elevated by a steam crane about five feet in the air and workers covered the base where the stone was to rest in mortar. When this was nearly complete, Grand Master Almer E. Monroney ceremonially spread the last of the mortar and the stone was lowered into place.[22] Grand Master Monroney was himself a member of Oklahoma Commandery No. 3.[23]
The 1920s were the golden age of fraternalism and Templary greatly enjoyed the enthusiasm of the decade. Membership in the order statewide swelled to 7,425 Sir Knights by 1925.[24] Owing to robust interest in Oklahoma City, a new commandery was formed in 1922; Bethlehem Commandery No. 45. By January of 1923, Oklahoma Commandery No. 3 remained the largest in the state with 694 Sir Knights. The next two largest commanderies were Muskogee Commandery No. 2 with 527 Sir Knights and Trinity Commandery No. 20 at Tulsa with 505 Sir Knights. The newly created Bethlehem Commandery No. 45 had an extremely healthy membership of 104 Sir Knights, a number they would see double by the year’s end.[25]
In 1921, with growth on the horizon, construction began on a new Masonic Temple in Oklahoma City, located at the corner of Northwest 6th and Robinson. The project’s estimated cost was $500,000, a figure which ultimately ticked up to $1,050,000 by the time the building was completed in 1923.[26] The Masonic orders that comprised the Masonic Temple Building Association that constructed or occupied the new temple were:
To celebrate the new Oklahoma City Masonic Temple, the 29th Annual Conclave of the Grand Commandery Knights Templar of Oklahoma was held there in May of 1924. The occasion began with a parade, estimated to have consisted of 1,000 Sir Knights, formed in three divisions, with the Templar band, and three Field Drill Corps performing drill exhibitions as they marched; including one fielded by Oklahoma Commandery No. 3. It fell upon Clarence Brain, the Eminent Commander of Oklahoma Commandery No. 3 that year, to deliver the address of welcome. He said in part:
Twenty-nine years ago, nine Sir Knights, representing three Commanderies consisting of 113 Knights Templar met in the city of Muskogee and organized the Grand Commandery of the Indian Territory. Two months later, fifteen Sir Knights, representing three Commanderies, consisting of 131 members, met in the city of Guthrie and formed the Grand Commandery of Oklahoma. Little did these Sir Knights dream of the foundation that they had laid that less than thirty years we would be 7,500 Sir Knights strong. Sir Knights, much of the history of the Grand Commandery has been made in Oklahoma City; this is the fifteenth time that we have had the pleasure of welcoming you and, Sir Knights, the welcome that goes from our hearts, the friendship, the association, the ties of brotherly love which binds us together have been firmly cemented and we have reunited here; we have formed those friendships which we hope to carry with us in the great hereafter, when we stand before the Great White Throne.[28]
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The prosperity and growth that led to the construction of the new Oklahoma City Masonic Temple came to an end as the Great Depression set in and membership dropped, owing to the inability of many to pay their annual dues. Trouble began for the temple in 1931 when the heavily mortgaged property was turned over to the lender and placed in receivership. Several Masonic orders continued to rent space in the building until 1934.[30] A review of the Polk City Directory for the year 1935 shows that all the various Masonic orders that were housed in the temple, including Oklahoma Commandery No. 3, were now residing in less substantial quarters, such as those at 1317 1/2 N. Broadway.[31] India Shrine Temple, the driving force behind the Oklahoma City Masonic Temple, would fully vacate the building in 1937.[32]
The annual conclave of the Grand Commandery Knights Templar of Oklahoma returned to Oklahoma City in 1939 after an absence of eleven years. Without a temple of grand scale to meet in, the conclave was held in the city’s Municipal Auditorium. The address of welcome was again delivered by a member of Oklahoma Commandery No. 3; with the honor falling upon Sir Knight Robert A. Hefner, Mayor of Oklahoma City.[33] Hefner was an attorney and oilman who had made his fortune around Ardmore. He served as an Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice from 1927 to 1933. The year 1939 marked the beginning of Hefner’s tenure as Oklahoma City’s Mayor.[34]
While membership in Templary in Oklahoma has been reduced to 1,293 Sir Knights today, Oklahoma Commandery No. 3 remains one of the healthier commanderies with a membership of 123 Sir Knights.[35] Since 1961, Oklahoma Commandery No. 3 has met in the lodge hall of Oklahoma City Lodge No. 36 located at 2935 W. Britton Road. In addition to DeForest D. Leach, a total of seven Sir Knights from Oklahoma Commandery No. 3 have held the office of Right Eminent Grand Commander of Knights Templar of Oklahoma and three Sir Knights have attained Past Grand rank. As one of the three commanderies to form the Grand Commandery of Oklahoma and one of the twenty-one original commanderies of that grand jurisdiction, Oklahoma Commandery No. 3 remains a strong institution to this day.
Past Grand Officers from Oklahoma Commandery No. 3
Grand Commander
Deputy Grand Commander
Grand Generalissimo
Grand Captain General
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