|
'ANCIENT LANDMARKS EVERYWHERE'
by V.W. Bro. Ted Morris
This yarn goes all over the place, from the
Scottish Rite Cathedral in Hamilton to the mother lodge of Teddy
Roosevelt on Long Island with a few stops in Cheektawaga, Buffalo, New
Zealand, Vancouver, and Juneau Alaska, plus a 'ship at sea' en
route. There’s no story-line to link a series of coincidences, so please
forgive the meandering.
LOVE-IN
I had the pleasure of attending the wedding feast (they called it an
“amalgamation”) of Doric Lodge No. 382 and Lodge of the Ancient
Landmarks No. 654 on May 24. It was a pleasant affair that was grace by
the Grand Master and drew large contingents from lodges across Ontario
and New York State. Doric was surrendering its charter after 125 years
and continuing under the name of the younger lodge. Why such a big crowd
for what is normally a marriage of convenience?
It goes back to the 1920’s when Acacia Lodge No. 61 regularly exchanged
cross-border visits with The Lodge of the Ancient Landmarks in Buffalo.
Toronto Hamilton and Buffalo Railway steam trains were the main means of
transport. According to Historian Don Muirhead, there was a lot about
the American work and spirit that the Hamiltonians admire so, in 1929,
around 90 members from 19 Hamilton lodges moved towards forming a
similar lodge with Doric as the sponsoring mother lodge. As a courtesy,
the Buffalo lodge was asked it Hamilton could use the same name.
PERPETUATED ERROR
When the charter was presented in 1931, economy of language had it as
“Ancient Landmarks Lodge.” Despite an order by the Grand Master of the
day that the original name be recognized, the mistake was perpetuated
into the 21st century. The Ontario Masonic Directory stubbornly lists
“Ancient Landmarks Lodge”.
The official denomination of the newly merged lodge is “Lodge of the
Ancient Landmarks Perpetuating Doric Lodge No. 382 Constituted in 1879.”
I wonder how the Masonic Directory will list that one.
A LOOK SOUTH
Bertrand Woodside, Immediate Past Master of Lodge of the Ancient
Landmarks in Buffalo----let’s start calling them ALM for convenience,
okay?-----led a delegation to the amalgamation and gave some incite into
the dynamics of the lodge.
A small face peers from under an altar carved in 1868. It’s T. Hersee,
father of the second Master of ALM and the owner of a furniture factory.
The workers were master craftsmen in wood and created awe-inspiring
furniture. It might have been walnut. It was certainly heavy enough. The
master’s chair was on a 25-foot high structure that could be a high
altar in a cathedral. The throne truly is worthy of Solomon. The piece
extends across the entire front of the lodge room and includes a
secretary’s desk with myriad secret drawers. The emplacement was
designed specifically for the German American Bank Building’s upper
chamber. There is only one other example of this work, and it is located
in the prestigious Buffalo Club.
FIRST MOVE
In 1903 the lodge moved out of the bank and into its own building,
designed, I am told, high wide and handsome to accommodate the
furniture. Time and finances change circumstance and in 1976 ALM sold
their building and leased back their space, which deteriorated. Members
wore coats indoors in the winter, the leaking roof damaged some of their
holdings, and one section was referred to as the hard-hat-zone” because
of falling plaster.
SECOND MOVE
So they sold and moved in with Highland Lodge on Main Street in 1979,
which is where I first met and fell in love with that furniture. They
kept ownership but Highland paid for maintenance and the insurance. It
cost them $30,000 for reupholstering the side benches and moving the
furniture in. The lodge was built in 1900 with members putting up $25
each. (One of the sponsors was a co builder with Frank Lloyd Wright who
erected a house down the street.) It pretty well matched the dimensions
of the bank, but it wasn’t quite as high. A plaster lamb surmounting the
25-foot high master’s canopy could not be accommodated. It went into
storage until last week. (More on that later.) The full pipe organ,
installed by Highland, was a nice touch.
ALM merged with East Gate in Buffalo, moved out, and left its furniture
with Highland, which through similar mergers became Highland Ely Parker
Lodge. That was also when the lodge sold the building to the
neighbouring Presbyterian Church and stayed on as a tenant.
FIRE IN OYSTER BAY
Two years ago there was a fire in Oyster Bay on Long Island. Matinecock
Lodge No. 806 found itself homeless but fortunately not broke.
Historical correctness is a big thing in Oyster Bay, and the lodge was
the mother lodge of Teddy Roosevelt. Their building was rebuilt in
accordance with local heritage laws, but it was empty. What could they
do for furniture?
Back in Buffalo, Highland Ely Parker’s Presbyterian lease ended this
June and they voted to relocate in Cheektawaga, a smaller lodge that
wouldn’t take the ALM furniture. ALM’s furniture needed a new home. This
June it was disassembled, reunited with the lamb, and shipped to
Matinecock via one of the town’s leading shippers. The freight company
is, by coincidence, owned by a brother in Oyster Bay.
After more than 130 years, ALM signed off and no longer owns that
historic furniture. However, a contract was signed, and ownership will
revert to Ancient Landmarks should that furniture ever “leave Masonic
service.”
REUNION
That should be the end of furniture stories, but it isn’t. When Highland
starting using the ALM treasure, it put its own oak furniture crafted in
1901 into temporary storage. It came out for a while to grace the
anteroom of the Buffalo Masonic Temple. When that building closed, it
made its was to Cheektawaga New York.
Past Master Bernie Huber reports that Highland Ely Parker Lodge held
their first meeting in Cheektawaga in June. Their old oak furniture was
there to greet them. And the Masonic symbol from the front of the Main
Street lodge will also go the Cheektawaga as soon as they can get a
ladder long enough and men brave enough to tackle the job.
Andrew Shearer, Past Grand Organist for New
Zealand, was on an Alaskan cruise out of Vancouver in June. A fellow
passenger on the cruise ship identified himself as a Mason over dinner
one evening and Andy showed him a copy of "The Traveller" he happened to
be carrying with him. His new friend, quite excited about the Ancient
Landmarks story, said he knew the furniture quite well, having sat on it
while attending lodge in Buffalo.
Masonry is indeed spread over the whole of
the habitable surface.
You might say that furniture is also part of the tradition.
-30-
Happy
to
Meet Again !
|
