Collingwood’s main street  has been restored.  Two years ago a disastrous fire gutted the Masonic/Oddfellows Temple Building.  All that was left was the towering elevator shaft and the four walls. The back and front walls had to come down and the side walls remained only because they were held up by buildings on both sides.

This October, Manito Lodge No. 90 rededicated and reoccupied its old home.

LANDMARK

The city hall on one side of the street and the lodge on the other gave the street its character.  Recent development of other properties has resulted in long clean lines and lots of glass, but not at the Temple site.   As a “non-designated  heritage building” on the main street, it continues to provided a focus in the heart of the town.  The tallest building, the old city hall, is directly across the street and, with its bell tower, it’s the tallest building.  No building runs higher than three storeys.  Some banks and stores have gone modern, serving function with no eye to tradition.  There was pressure on the lodge to make certain innovations, like glazed bricks, elimination of ornamental stonework, and scrapping arched windows for cheaper functional rectangular ones.  Maybe that stubborn adherence to  tradition was responsible for the final cost but no one is complaining.   

HEN AND CHICKENS

An understanding of Collingwood and its place in history gives an appreciation of the lodge and its place in the town. Collingwood was originally known as “Hen and Chickens Harbour” in the early 1800's, named after the one big island and four smaller ones that gave a sheltered anchorage. Don’t look for them anymore.  Land fill has since made them part of the mainland.  And as for the name, it disappeared when the Toronto Simcoe and Lake Huron Railway came to town and it was renamed “Collingwood” for Horatio Nelson’s second in Command at the Battle of Trafalgar.

MEMBERSHIP OVER THE YEARS

The town is—or was—famous for its shipbuilding, employing more than a thousand workers at its peak.  Railways facilitated a shortcut across southern Ontario. The last of the big lakers, the MV Paterson, went down the ways April 18, 1985. Original lodge membership was comprised of railway men and seamen, and a lot of Scots who emigrated from the Clyde, bringing their shipbuilding skills with them.  They are still there, a little older, but with a foot in two cultures.  When the Grand Piper led the team around the lodge room, I could hear—quietly—voices singing the words of “Road to the Isles”, all three verses.  It’s the type of experience that enriches a visitor.

The lodge has contributed 34 Mayors and councilors, members of the board of education, and provincial and federal politicians.   It’s a cross section.  With the rails pulled up, the shipyards closed, and the freighters bypassing the town, the membership has become more diversified.. As well as the young professionals, the lodge houses retirees from the old industries, and the growing retirement community as people from further south relocate at Blue Mountain for winter sports or wading at Wasaga beach.

The old lodge was part of the old town.  Members trudged down a long hallway to climb three storeys to the lodge rooms. Things improved in 1990 with the 100^th birthday celebrations.  An elevator was installed by adding to the back of the building.  It’s ironic that the elevator shaft was about all the survived.

My first visit to Manito lodge No. 90 was in another town and another temple. The embers were barely cold when Northern Light Lodge in nearby Stayner had offered them temporary shelter. At that time they told me that rebuilding was never in question.  The phoenix would rise from the ashes. Rededication was this October. 

COST OF REBUILDING

Of course, there was the matter of money.  Insurance never covers it all.  And treasures, such as more than a century of minutes and memorabilia, are gone forever.  The original estimate which included projected cost overruns was $1.3 million.  The restoration cost $2.3 million.

Fund raising took different forms, like subscriptions and donations and the sale of prints of the old  building. Commemorative plates were created with images of the old lodge and the restored lodge.  But it takes a lot of plate sales to make a million.

The townsfolk were well aware of the dedication ceremonies as the men in regalia paraded to the front of the building.  As same cross section gathered on the street as the cornerstone was rededicated before the dedication of the lodge upstairs.   In fact, as Bruce Auchterlonie and The Grand Master Terry Shand posed for a photo next to the cornerstone,  a couple of locals approached them.  “It’s a grand job.  You should be congratulated.”

Fire hurts. The lodge could meet elsewhere, but businesses on the street-front closed, some forever, unable to hang on for two years of rebuilding. The cigar store had been there since 1932.  The new central arcade has upscale stores and will help pay off the mortgage, but the passing of old friends is painful. 

OLDER THAN IT SAYS

“All the minute books were kept in the lodge, and all our history is gone,” lamented Bruce Auchterlonie. “It wouldn’t have been if they’d been locked in a vault, but we didn’t have a vault.”

This  means some arguments will never be settled, like how old the lodge really is.  The minutes from 1857 gave rise to an argument that the lodge is a year older than it’s charter says.  The first meeting was held on New Years Eve in 1857.  Lodge was called off from Labor to refreshment for four hours, while the brethren welcomed in the New Year.  Then the same meeting continued.  In fact, it lasted all of New Years day.  The charter reads “1858.”

“Some of the meetings used to last two or three days,” recalls Bruce.  “No wonder the women got fed up.”  But what went on went up in flames on September 9, 2000.

The Traveller highly recommends a visit to Collingwood, a coffee on the main street, a tour through the lodge building, and maybe even buying a souvenir plate as a collector’s item and to pay for a brick or two.

 -end-

Editor’s Note: See “Flames Temper Masonic Spirit” in archives, an earlier story of the fire and assistance offered by other lodges