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The history of operative Freemasonry since the formation of the Grand Lodge of England in 1717 has seen many changes. We began in taverns and pubs, and our meetings and degrees were celebrated with the Festive Board, with toasts and food and a camaraderie not found in any other society of its day. Freemasonry was a unique creation, unlike any other institution in what was a rigidly proscribed social class system. Nobleman and commoner, landowner and shopkeeper, general and foot soldier, could meet upon the level in this place—something they could not acceptably do on a city street. Political and religious differences that had torn nations and continents apart were left outside the door. Men from every class and religion in what quickly became every corner of the globe shared in common their degree experience in the Lodge, and a charge to strive for nobler deeds, higher thoughts and greater achievements.
What became today's Middle Chamber lecture in the Fellow Craft degree was an attempt by our forefathers to take good men and make them better. It was an admonition for a Mason to study the liberal arts, to take note of the orders of architecture, to scientifically observe the world around him. This was at a time when public education did not exist, when universities were places where only the children of the very rich could be found, and the notion of questioning religious explanations of natural phenomena could still result in heretical punishments in certain quarters of the globe.
The degrees of Masonry were conferred in many ways in the early days. A man could be initiated, passed and raised in one night, or it could take up to a year between degrees. Multiple candidates were not uncommon for degrees, and early French and Belgian paintings depict several candidates receiving their Master Mason degrees at the same time. Other records show that members were sometimes required to present scholarly research papers in open lodge before being allowed to advance. Entered Apprentices were welcomed into meetings with open arms, and all lodge business was conducted on the EA degree.
Lodges met in tents, taverns, hotels and finally dedicated buildings constructed specially as temples for the Craft. Many lodges would meet in the same buildings. The object was for Freemasonry to grow by making new lodges of small size, and the reasons were simple. Twenty, thirty or even forty men could know, love and care for one another. The design was for smaller lodges to have a caring and connected membership.
Lodges had very different personalities—not simply country or city lodges. Masons of like professions formed affinity lodges. Military lodges were quite common, and were instrumental in spreading Freemasonry around the world in an astonishingly brief period of time, while Europe embarked on two centuries of trade, war and colonial expansion.
To join a lodge meant that a man had come well recommended by Masons who really knew him to be a good, honest man; that he had been investigated thoroughly; that he would be a credit to his Lodge, or that there was at least a spark of potential that would grow within him by associating with men of good character.
Lodge was expensive, so much so that dues (or “subscriptions”) would have to be paid at each meeting. In return, the Mason was treated to, not a dinner, but a feast, with plentiful wine or ale for the seven ritual toasts that accompanied the Festive Board. And it was just that: festive, lasting well into the night. Many lodges met on the night of the full moon, to assist the brethren in finding their way home on foot or horseback in the dark.
In less than one hundred years after the birth of the first Grand Lodge, virtually every man, woman and child in the Western world knew who Freemasons were and what the Order stood for. Masons were the elite of society—not in the blue-blooded, landed gentry sense of the word, but elite as in the leaders of their towns, the men of integrity, responsibility and trust, whether they were presidents, doctors, coopers or smiths.
This was the state of Freemasonry during the period of its greatest expansion. Small and exclusive lodges, hard to join, expensive to belong to, encouraging personal and intellectual growth, wrapped in the mantle of charity and robust conviviality for all of its members of every degree.
Author "The Knights of the North" reprinted from The Philalethes, with permission.
HISTORY OF THE LODGE IN ELGIN
1923 news article in the Elgin Courier-News:
New Masonic Temple in Elgin IL.
"Prohibition Is Biggest Issue of Nation," one headline of the times read, as the Elgin Masonic Lodge prepared for its biggest and greatest ceremony to date: the laying of the cornerstone for the new Masonic Temple at the corner of Chicago and Geneva Streets which would be home
to the approximately 1,600 Elgin Masons and members of their auxilliary bodies.
The year was 1923, shortly after World War I ended. Communist prisoners were being taken by the French as striking workers quit the Ruhr Works in Germany. Car drivers were referred to as an "Autoists;" one in particular, William Tweedie, was acquitted of reckless driving when he pointed out that although he was traveling at a speedy 25mph, there no other cars on the road The Elgin Daily Courier (now the Elgin Courier-News) "entered 5000 homes daily in Elgin" and cost 10¢ a week. Solid gold baby rings were advertised for 65¢; a full-size, freestanding icebox "of the most modern variety" could be purchased for $16.50 from Wait & Ross Furniture Co. The Chicago Live Stock market traded shares of hogs, cattle, and sheep, while the Chicago Produce Market traded shares of live poultry, butter, cheese, and eggs. The cost for the new Masonic Temple was estimated at more than $200,000 and slated to be completed, incredibly, by fall of that same year. The Masons former temple, located on North Spring Street had burned to the ground three years earlier, in November of 1920. The front page of the June 9, 1923 evening edition of The Elgin Daily Courier featured an artist's rendering of the new temple and described it as being "entirely of fireproof construction. "The sprawling new building would include a "lodge room of greater size than any lodge room in the country;" a second, smaller lodge room; and an auditorium for up to 1,200 people and would be made available to other Elgin groups and gatherings, arranged so that seats could be removed "and the place transformed into a dance hall"!
The June 4 newspaper proclaimed that the building committee had secured a "noted orator" for the following Saturday's ceremony, Dr. Preston Bradley, Pastor of the People's church of Chicago. The Grand Master of the Illinois Masons, Elmer E. Beach was also to be on hand to turn over the first trowel of dirt at the site. The cornerstone laying was a big event. A parade with an "order of units and line of march" was led by Elgin Mayor Joseph Caughy who was also designated the parade's grand marshal. Delegations from neighboring communities' Masonic lodges were on hand, as were Masons from all over northern Illinois. Even "the ladies" were part of the day's celebrations, with the local Order of thre Eastern Star joining the Aurora Municipal Band, Elgin Watch Company employee band, LaGrange Masonic Orphan Home Children's Band, the Order of the Builders of Boys, and members of the blue lodge Master Masons who were "urgently requested" to assemble at high school park for the parade "with your lamb skin apron if possible."An unexpected surprise for the grand ceremony was the arrival of a trainload of Shriners, drill teams and two bands. The train carrying its passengers home to Sioux City, Iowa back from Washington, D.C. Shriners convention. Into the cornerstone was laid a hermetically sealed copper box -- a time capsule that would be impervious to the elements and "chemical actions from cement or stone." A box removed from the former temple following the 1920 fire contained nothing but a copper coin and a copy of the The Elgin Daily Courier dated October 23, 1903; everything else had disentigrated. The items placed in the new time capsule included a Bible, the coin and newspaper from the earlier box, an American flag, the honor roll of Elgin servicemen who died during "the world war" (there had only been one by 1923), the blue book of the grand lodge, and by-laws and rosters of the various Masonic orders and auxilliaries.
The evening edition of June 9, 1923
The Elgin Daily Courier covered every aspect of the cornerstone laying ceremonies; in fact, the Elgin's Part 2.New Masonic Temple special Courier edition featured almost exclusive coverage of the event, with photos of the parade, speakers and ceremonies; formal portraits of the building committee and and Masonic officers; profiles of the various councils and affiliated auxilliaries; a history of Masonry; a "who's who in Masonic Circles;" and floor plans of the new temple. Given the extensive coverage of the events leading up to, on the day of, and in the week following the cornerstone laying, it's clear that construction of the temple was a milestone in the young city's development, and evidence of the important, and very visible, role of the Masons in Elgin community life. That role today is still vital to the citizens of Elgin, how Masons contribute to the greater good of the community. "It's all about Men of character from every walk of life all working together to build a better world."
For more information email: info@elginmasonic.com
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