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/.

Territorial Masonry: Eufaula Lodge No. 1 AF&AM

 By T.S. Akers

By the 1820s the southwestern border of the United States reached to Fort Smith, Arkansas. In order to protect the border, Colonel Matthew Arbuckle established Fort Gibson in 1824 at the confluence of the Grand and Arkansas Rivers. After the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the post would take on a peace keeping role between the Plains Indians and the Five Tribes who came to call the new Indian Territory home. The placement of Fort Gibson proved to be a detriment to the Army as the post flooded often and many a soldier died of disease; but the post was in relative proximity to Tahlequah, capital of the Cherokee Nation, and Park Hill, home to several leading Cherokee statesmen.[1] It was here that Freemasonry arrived in the Indian Territory and a charter was issued to Cherokee Lodge No. 21 on the 9th of November, 1848, by the Grand Lodge of Arkansas.[2] In time the Fraternity would flourish across the Five Tribes, including the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.

While Tahlequah was fast becoming a bustling tribal capital, Fort Gibson was the center of military operations and commerce in the Indian Territory. Though Fort Gibson was just twenty-five miles from Tahlequah, the distance often made it difficult for the Masons there to attend lodge without interfering with their duties on post. As such, it was in 1850 that Fort Gibson Lodge No. 35 was chartered. Within two years another lodge was established near a frontier post, Choctaw Lodge No. 52 at Doaksville, near Fort Towson. The desire for Freemasonry amongst the Cherokees was further fueled in 1853 when Flint Lodge No. 74 was established at Flint near present day Stillwell. As can be discerned, the majority of the lodges established were composed mostly of Cherokee and Choctaw citizens. Though several Muscogees were Masons, they chose not to affiliate with lodges in the region.[3]

Old Creek Agency in the 1850s

An oil painting by Vinson Lackey

(From the collections of the Gilcrease Museum)

It was in 1855 that prominent Muscogee citizen George W. Stidham led the movement to establish a lodge within the Creek Nation.[4] Stidham had been made a Mason in Washington, D.C., while attending to tribal affairs and had taken numerous “higher degrees.” Legend has it that Stidham, Rev. Calvin M. Slover, and Joseph M. Coodey traveled by horseback to Little Rock, Arkansas, to obtain a dispensation for a new lodge.[5] And thus, on the 9th of November, 1855, Muscogee Lodge No. 93 was chartered at the Creek Agency by the Grand Lodge of Arkansas.[6] At this time, the Creek Agency was located at the base of Fern Mountain on the southern bank of the Arkansas River.[7] In addition to Stidham, other notable Creek citizens held membership in Muscogee Lodge, including Samuel Checote and Daniel N. McIntosh.[8] 

George Washington Stidham

(Courtesy of the National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution)

The annual reports to the Grand Lodge of Arkansas show that Muscogee Lodge No. 93 had 26 members in 1856. This number had grown to 41 by 1859. Masonry in the Indian Territory prospered until the outbreak of hostilities in 1861.  All of the Five Tribes became embroiled in the conflict and Masonic activity in the region ceased. The proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Arkansas make particular note of lodges being destroyed as Federal troops moved through that state.[9] 

The lodges of Indian Territory were carried on the rolls of the Grand Lodge of Arkansas through the Civil War, though no dues payments or annual reports were being sent to Arkansas. By 1865, the Indian Territory lodges were considered to be in default. To remedy this, they were required to provide proof that the lodge charter had survived the War and remit their outstanding dues by the 1st of June, 1866, or their charters would be withdrawn. Having received no response by the given date, the Grand Lodge of Arkansas withdrew the charters of Cherokee, Fort Gibson, Choctaw, and Muscogee Lodges in 1867.[10]

The reality of the situation was that the charter of Muscogee Lodge had survived the War, as Joseph M. Coodey had preserved it during his service with the Confederacy.[11] As men returned to what was left of their homes, they began to resume their Masonic activity when possible. Those Indian Territory lodges that responded to the notice sent them by the Grand Lodge of Arkansas reported that few of their members were left in the region. Cherokee Lodge, for example, only had 5 members still within the jurisdiction of the lodge.[12] 

After the war, Stidham moved to the Eufaula area and opened a store. It was in the second story of that edifice that Muscogee Lodge reconvened.[13] The Brethren labored diligently until early 1874 when they again journeyed to Little Rock, Arkansas, to make payment for all accounts due and insure their charter was valid.[14] For the sum of $80, Muscogee Lodge was able to settle their accounts and secure permission to resume labor. Unfortunately, Muscogee Lodge’s original number had been reassigned by the Grand Lodge of Arkansas and a new charter was issued as Muscogee Lodge No. 90.[15] 

The year 1874 was a busy one indeed for Muscogee Lodge. Having just restored their charter in the spring, their presence would be requested in the fall for the purpose of forming a Grand Lodge. Again traveling by horseback, George W. Stidham along with Rev. Henry F. Buckner arrived in Caddo after two days ride. Along with representatives of Doaksville Lodge No. 279 and Caddo Lodge No. 311, the Grand Lodge of the Indian Territory was formed on the 5th of October, 1874. The first Grand Master was Granville McPherson, editor of the Caddo Star, with Stidham serving as Grand Treasurer and Buckner as Grand Chaplain.[16] Owing to the numbering under the Grand Lodge of Arkansas, the lodges of the newly formed grand lodge became Muscogee Lodge No. 1, Doaksville Lodge No. 2, and Caddo Lodge No. 3.[17] Muscogee Lodge would change its name to Eufaula Lodge in 1889.[18] 

While the town of Doaksville and its lodge is nothing more than a memory, in 1981 the Masons of Eufaula Lodge No. 1 AF&AM broke ground on a new meeting hall. There they remain as a monument to those early Brethren of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.

 

---

[1]  "Fort Gibson,” Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, <http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/F/FO033.html>, Accessed 4 November 2012.

[2]  Charles E. Creager, History of Freemasonry in Oklahoma (Muskogee, Oklahoma:  Muskogee Print Shop, 1935), 20.

[3]  Creager, 23-28.

[4]  Ibid., 28.

[5]  “Eufaula Masonic Lodge:  Oldest in Oklahoma,” The Indian Journal, 2 March 1922, p. 3.

[6]  Creager, 28.

[7]  Thomas F. Meagher, "Map of the Old Creek Agency: 1851-1876" Oklahoma Historical Society Map Collection (Tulsa, 1938).

[8]  Proceedings of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge AF&AM of the Indian Territory (Caddo: Oklahoma Star, 1875), 24.

[9]  Proceedings of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge F&AM of the State of Arkansas (Little Rock: 1856-1862).

[10]  Proceedings of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge F&AM of the State of Arkansas (Little Rock: 1865-1867).

[11]  “Eufaula Masonic Lodge:  Oldest in Oklahoma.”

[12]  Proceedings of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge F&AM of the State of Arkansas (Little Rock: 1867).

[13]  “Eufaula Masonic Lodge:  Oldest in Oklahoma.”

[14]  “Eufaula Masonic Lodge #1:  Sesquicentennial Anniversary,” The Indian Journal, Spring Expo 2005, p. 19.

[15]  J. Fred Latham, The Story of Oklahoma Masonry (Guthrie: Grand Lodge of Oklahoma, 1978), 10-11.

[16]  Creager, 41-46.

[17]  “Eufaula Masonic Lodge #1:  Sesquicentennial Anniversary.”

[18]  Proceedings of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge AF&AM of the Indian Territory (Muskogee: Phoenix Steam Printing Company, 1889), 66.

The New Oklahoma City Masonic Temple: 1921

By T.S. Akers

The New Masonic Temple

(Courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society)

Freemasonry arrived in Oklahoma City in 1889. After meeting at two previous locations, the Freemasons resided at the “Baptist White Temple” located on Broadway, just north of the Skirvin Hotel. This period of fraternalism saw massive growth in membership and in 1918 the Masonic Temple Building Association, led by the India Shrine, resolved to erect a new Masonic Temple at the southwest corner of Northwest 6^th and Robinson at a cost of $500,000.

Construction began on the new Masonic Temple in 1921 and the Cornerstone was laid by Grand Master Leslie H. Swan, of Oklahoma City, on 13 October 1922. By the time the Masons occupied the building in 1923, the total construction cost was $1,050,000. The first $500,000 came from funds accumulated by the Masonic Temple Building Association; a ten year loan was also procured in the amount of $556,000. Additionally, a second mortgage was taken out in the sum of $250,000 to decorate and furnish the Temple. Ultimately, these mortgages would be the undoing of the Temple.

Cornerstone ceremony for the Masonic Temple, 1922

(Courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society)

Entering the new Masonic Temple from Robinson, visitors found a spacious lobby with access to the secretarial offices of the Masonic Orders housed there. A wide corridor led directly to the Shrine Auditorium. With a 40x90 foot stage, the auditorium seated 3,000 people and could be isolated from the rest of the building, with an entrance from 6^th Street, for public functions in order to not interfere with Masonic activities. A smaller auditorium, Harding Hall, which seated 700 people was also located on the first floor. The second floor housed social rooms, billiard rooms, and lounge areas for the Masons. The top floor was comprised of the meeting rooms for the sixteen Masonic Orders that met at the Temple. The building also included a basement which served as the banquet and ball room.

 The Shrine Auditorium

(Courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society)

The Knights Templar Room

(Courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society)

Knights Templar in front of the Temple, 1925

(Courtesy of the Grand Commandery Knights Templar of Oklahoma)

In 1927, the Masonic Temple Building Association approved a resolution to execute two large mortgage notes with the American First Trust Company to pay off the bonds and floating indebtedness in a move to save $20,000 in interest. The following year, an agreement was entered into with the Mid-West Entertainment Company (what would become Warner Brothers) to lease the Shrine Auditorium for a sum of $12,500 per year. The beginning of the end came for the new Masonic Temple on 29 October 1929, when the stock market crashed.

In an attempt to save the Temple, the Masonic Temple Building Association agreed to lease all of the first and second floor, except for the Shrine Auditorium and Harding Hall, as commercial business space in 1930. As Masonic membership began to rapidly decline owing to the economic downturn that would become the Great Depression, the Temple was officially turned over to the lender on 4 September 1931. A rent agreement was soon reached to allow some Masonic Orders to remain in the Temple. By 1934, all but India Shrine had agreed to vacate. Ultimately, the Shriners would leave the Temple in 1937 and the building sat empty for 13 years until purchased by the Home State Life Insurance Company at a sheriff’s sale for $201,000.

The Knights Templar Room as it appeared after purchase by the Home State Life Insurance Company

 (Courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society)

After serving as the home of the Journal Record and surviving the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, Oklahoma City’s Masonic Temple was acquired by Heritage Wealth Management in 2015. Now known as The Heritage, the Temple has a new lease on life as alternative office space. 

 India Shrine Parade, originating at the new Masonic Temple, c. 1929

(Courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society)

† Gene McKelvey, The Masonic History of the Murrah Building Bombing Memorial Museum (Oklahoma: The Oklahoma Lodge of Research).

S. Arch Thompson: Freemason and Oklahoma Educator

By T.S. Akers

S. Arch Thompson, c. 1961

Active students of Freemasonry are in constant pursuit of Masonic Light, moving from a state of Darkness to Light. Light as a symbol of Knowledge and Truth has long stood to illuminate man’s path in the world, helping him to understand the mysteries around him and within himself. Imparting knowledge is one of the key components of Freemasonry and the Scottish Rite in particular, for it is often labelled the University of Freemasonry. Oklahoma Masons have a long history of being proponents of the pursuit of knowledge, with many holding advanced degrees from educational institutions across the country. Many more Oklahoma Masons have also made it possible for students across this great state to pursue higher education through scholarships and grants to the numerous colleges and universities that call Oklahoma home. One Oklahoma Mason for whom the pursuit of knowledge was a lifelong journey was S. Arch Thompson of McAlester, Oklahoma.

Born at Harper, Kansas, on 16 September 1901, Thompson began his pursuit of knowledge at the Harper Christian College. He went on to attend Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University) and graduated in 1925 with a Bachelor of Science degree. Thompson then took up residence at Blackwell, teaching and coaching. He ultimately became Principal of Blackwell High School. Thompson moved to McAlester in 1948 to take a position as Principal of McAlester High School. He would become Superintendent of McAlester Public Schools in 1950.

It was in McAlester that Thompson became associated with Freemasonry, taking the degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry in South McAlester Lodge No. 96 over the span of 1953 to 1954. He would take the degrees of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in 1956. Masonic degrees were not the only degrees Thompson was pursuing at this time. He went on to earn a Master of Science degree in school administration from Kansas State University and completed additional coursework at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Thompson’s dedication to McAlester Public Schools earned him the Pittsburg County Man of the Year designation in 1958. As superintendent, he would throughout his career oversee integration of McAlester Public Schools, construction projects amounting to $3 million, and the establishment of an adult education program. When the McAlester Scottish Rite Charitable and Educational Foundation was established in 1960, Thompson became chairman of the Scholarship Committee. He would serve the foundation until 1992, awarding over 3,000 scholarships totaling $1.4 million. Thompson’s early dedication to the foundation earned him the Knight Commander of the Court of Honour designation on 8 December 1961.

One of the projects undertaken during Thompson’s tenure as superintendent was the construction of a new auditorium for McAlester Public Schools. Completed in 1964, the building today located across from the old McAlester High School was dubbed the S. Arch Thompson Auditorium. Thompson retired in 1971 after giving 46 years to public education in Oklahoma. He was again honored by the Scottish Rite Valley of McAlester in 1975 when he was coroneted to the 33^rd Degree.

Thompson’s civic pursuits outside of Freemasonry were numerous and included seats on the boards of the Oklahoma Education Association and the Choctaw Area Boy Scouts of America. To recognize his life of service, Oklahoma Christian University conferred an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree upon Thompson

Before his death on 8 June 2002, Thompson’s many years of service to Freemasonry and the pursuit of knowledge were commemorated with his being awarded the Grand Cross of the Court of Honour in 1991. The Grand Cross is the highest honor bestowed by the Scottish Rite. Thompson was laid to rest in Memory Gardens of McAlester, Oklahoma.

Grand Cross of the Court of Honour Cap of S. Arch Thompson, c. 1991

(From the collections of the McAlester Scottish Rite)

† Compiled from the member profile of S. Arch Thompson, McAlester Valley of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.

Henry S. Johnston: Grand Master, Governor, Yogi

By T.S. Akers

 Henry S. Johnston

Throughout the history of Freemasonry, the rolls of the Fraternity have often included men who have held public office. Numerous Presidents of the United States were Freemasons, such as George Washington, William McKinley, and Harry Truman. During the height of fraternalism, many men belonged to a great many fraternal societies and the landscape in Oklahoma was no different. In more recent history, one notable Oklahoman who held membership in the Masonic Fraternity was Carl Albert, the 46^th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. There have also been some rather interesting men who held public office in Oklahoma who were also Freemasons.

Only two Oklahoma Governors have ever been impeached and convicted, resulting in their removal from office. The first was Jack C. Walton, the fifth Governor of Oklahoma.[i] The second was Henry S. Johnston, the seventh Governor of Oklahoma.[ii] While Walton’s impeachment is a well-known period in Oklahoma history, owing to his placing Tulsa and Okmulgee Counties under martial law in 1923, Johnston’s alleged indiscretions were much less serious.[iii]

Henry S. Johnston was born in Evansville, Indiana, on 30 December 1867. He graduated from Baker University of Baldwin City, Kansas, and was ultimately admitted to the Colorado bar in 1891. Johnston made his way to the Oklahoma Territory in 1893, to participate in the Cherokee Outlet opening, setting up a law practice in Perry.[iv]

The best way to describe Johnston is that he was an esoterist. He is said to have counted Theosophy, New Thought, Unity, and Christian Science among his philosophical affinities. Johnston also had an interest in numerology and astrology. He would in time join the Rosicrucian Order.[v] While residing in Perry, Johnston took the degrees of Freemasonry in 1901 at Perry Lodge No. 78 AF&AM. He would serve that lodge as Worshipful Master in 1916.[vi]

Johnston became active in political circles shortly after arriving in the Oklahoma Territory and was elected to the Oklahoma Territorial Council in 1896. He was then elected to the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention in 1906, where he served as the presiding officer. Johnston would ultimately be elected to the first Oklahoma State Senate, serving as president pro tempore.[vii]

While making two unsuccessful bids for Congress, Johnston was also active in Freemasonry. He would come to be a Royal Arch Mason and Knight Templar. Johnston took the degrees of the Scottish Rite in 1913, receiving the Knight Commander of the Court of Honor designation in 1919, and was coroneted a Thirty-Third Degree Mason in 1923. He was made Grand Orator of the Grand Lodge of the State of Oklahoma in 1921. Having been elected Senior Grand Warden in 1922, Johnston rose to the office of Most Worshipful Grand Master in 1924.[viii]

Knight Templar uniform of Henry S. Johnston

(From the collections of the McAlester Scottish Rite)

Johnston would ultimately claim the Governor’s office in 1926, overcoming allegations that he supported the Ku Klux Klan. His inauguration, which was the first to be broadcast over the radio, was also the first to be opened with a prayer. Johnston’s record as governor shows that he was able to increase education spending and establish a hospital for crippled children.[ix] His legislative success was short lived though, and scandal soon came to overshadow his administration.

Johnston had become acquainted with a Mrs. Oliver “Mamie” Hammonds and she became part of Johnston’s gubernatorial campaign. After winning election, Johnston made Hammonds his personal secretary. In this role, it began to appear that Hammonds controlled access to Johnston. When Johnston made the decision to pave Oklahoma’s highways with asphalt rather than concrete, it was discovered that Hammonds’ uncle, Judge James Armstrong, had a financial interest in an asphalt company.[x] It was at this point that the seeds of discontent were sown with the Oklahoma legislature, but the charges against Johnston would only grow stranger.

Johnston was a Freemason, as was Hammonds’ husband, and Armstrong was a Rosicrucian, as was Johnston. Another movement that was sweeping the United States at the time was the practice of yoga, then referred to as “yogi philosophy.” Many believed yoga to include hypnotism, with the terms being used interchangeably. For some, the control that Hammonds’ seemed to exercise over Johnston was thought to be the result of hypnotism. Johnston only exacerbated the issue with his beliefs in astrology, stating that he would only sign bills at specific times of the day when the zodiac would be more favorable.[xi]

Armstrong, Hammonds’ uncle, became acquainted with a Punjabi Sikh immigrant who traveled to Oklahoma City in 1926 to teach yoga. Yogi Wassan, as he styled himself, became Armstrong’s yoga instructor; it was then that rumors began to swirl that a “mystic pope” was exerting influence over Armstrong, and Johnston by association. The peculiarities to which Johnston adhered had finally become too much for the Oklahoma legislature and a failed impeachment attempt was made in 1927. Johnston, rather than curbing his esoteric pursuits, chose to attend a lecture series titled “Divine Yoga” in 1928.[xii]

The elections of 1928 would see numerous political opponents of Johnston gain office at all levels of government. As the legislature set to work in 1929, they quickly took up the call to impeach Johnston. The charges brought against Johnston included using the National Guard to prevent the 1927 impeachment, pardoning a murderer, and mismanagement of the Highway Commission. Johnston’s esoteric pursuits were also questioned, as it was alleged he was hosting séances, visiting an astrologer, and that both a swami and a yogi were on call by the governor.[xiii] Testimony in the impeachment hearings would eventually fill over five thousand pages, but of the eleven charges, Johnston was only convicted of the charge of general incompetence.[xiv]

Johnston would continue in public service, even after being removed from the governor’s office. He served in the State Senate again from 1933 to 1937, spending the rest of his days practicing law. Johnston died on 7 January 1965, one day after a proposal was introduced in the State House to lessen his impeachment.[xv] He was laid to rest in Grace Hill Cemetery of Perry.[xvi]

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[i]  Larry O’Dell, “Walton, John Calloway,” The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, accessed March 28, 2017, http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=WA014.

[ii]  Bob Burke, “Johnston, Henry Simpson,” The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, accessed March 28, 2017, http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=JO015.

[iii]  O’Dell.

[iv]  Burke.

[v]  Philip Deslippe, "The American Yoga Scare of 1927: How Traveling Yogis Toppled the Oklahoma State Government," South Asian American Digital Archive, last modified September 10, 2015, https://www.saada.org/tides/article/20150910-4457.

[vi]  J. Fred Latham, The Story of Oklahoma Masonry (Guthrie, Oklahoma: Masonic Print Shop, 1978), 354.

[vii]  Burke.

[viii]  Grand Masters of Oklahoma (Oklahoma: Oklahoma Lodge of Research, 1975), 83.

[ix]  Burke.

[x]  Deslippe.

[xi]  Ibid.

[xii]  Ibid.

[xiii]  Ibid.

[xiv]  Burke.

[xv]  Ibid.

[xvi]  “Henry Simpson Johnston,” Find A Grave, accessed March 28, 2017, https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=9672378.

McAlester Scottish Rite Library and Museum

In 2014, I was appointed Director of Curatorial Affairs for the McAlester Valley of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. The Library and Museum of the McAlester Valley was established as a department in 1956. Our institution is home to numerous collections of early Masonic personalities in Oklahoma, including Daniel M. Hailey, William Busby, Clarence Brain, and William S. Key.

Under my direction, our museum has embarked upon an exciting exhibition plan telling the story of Freemasonry in the Indian Territory, and later Oklahoma. Since 2014, a total of ten new exhibits have been installed in our second floor gallery covering topics ranging from the McAlester Scottish Rite Temple to the Order of the Eastern Star. We were also fortunate enough to receive a loan of early 20^th century Masonic porcelain.

Our mission is as follows:

The Library and Museum of the McAlester Valley of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite is dedicated to preserving the Masonic history of Indian Territory from 1824, when Fort Gibson was established by Brother Matthew Arbuckle, to the present day.  This includes the establishment of the Grand Lodge of Oklahoma and the merging of the Grand Lodges of Indian Territory and Oklahoma in 1909; in addition to the various Appendent Orders of Freemasonry that came to occupy the Indian Territory.