MASpringfield

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SPRINGFIELD

LODGES


BUILDINGS

BUILDING FIRE, FEBRUARY 1891

From Liberal Freemason, Vol. XIV, No. 11, February 1891, Page 350:

It is a matter of regret that our brethren in Springfield, Mass., have been made to suffer loss by fire; they had many rare and valuable things in their apartments, many of them hard to be replaced, some of them not at all. The Boston Herald printed a special dispatch as follows: " he five-story brown stone front building of the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company on Main Street was damaged by fire this afternoon (February 9th,) the loss being variously estimated at from $20,000 to $30,000. The first floor was occupied by Woodbury, Moulton & Stearns, investment bankers, and by the Springfield Safety Deposit Company; the second and third floors by the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company; and the fourth and fifth floors by Springfield Commandery Knight Templars, Morning Star Chapter Royal Arch Masons, Springfield Council Lodge of Perfection and Princes of Jerusalem, Roswell Lee and Hampden Lodges, F. & A. M. The fire started on the fourth floor, in an ante-room, and had gained considerable headway when discovered. In an hour the firemen had the fire under control. The flames were confined to the two upper floors, and most of the damage was done by water. The loss of the various Masonic Lodges aggregates $10,000, the loss on the building itself is $15,000, and the damage done to the furniture in Woodbury, Moulton & Stearns's office, is estimated at $15,000. All these damages are fully covered by insurance. The fire probably caught from an electric light wire."

CORNERSTONE LAYING, JUNE 1924

From New England Craftsman, Vol. XIX, No. 9, June 1924, Page 284:

More than 5000 members of Masonic bodies in Springfield, Mass., and nearby cities and towns, participated in the parade and other exercises attending the laying of the cornerstone Tuesday, June 24th ef the new $1,000,000 Masonic temple in State Street. Several thousand more spectators viewed the ceremony and listened to the addresses, the speakers' voices being carried to the edges of the throng of spectators by amplifiers.

Nearly 3000 took part in the parade through the business district, ending at the new temple. The cornerstone was laid by the Most Worshipful Dudley H. Ferrell of Lynn, Grand Master of Masons in Massachusetts, and his official suite. Mayors Edwin F. Leonard of Springfield and Norman B. Stevens of Hartford, and E. A. Blodgett, president of the Masonic Hall Association, assisted in spreading the cement. After the two-ton stone was lowered and leveled, the ancient ceremony of consecrating the stone with corn, wine and oil followed.

SpringfieldTempleTrowel1924.jpg
Trowel from the 1924 Cornerstone Laying

HALL DEDICATION, FEBRUARY 1926

From New England Craftsman, Vol. XXI, No. 4, February 1926, Page 115:

The new temple of the Springfield (Mass.) Masonic Hall Association was dedicated February 16th in accordance ancient rites by Most Worshipful Frank L. Simpson, of Boston, Grand Master of Masons of Massachusetts and his suite. The completed building, considered one of the finest of its kind in the country, represents well upward of $1,000,000. Precedence in the dedicatory rites was given to Hampden Lodge, organized in 1817, the oldest in the city. The cornerstone was laid twenty months ago.


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