Masons at the Crossroads

continued

I've been a Mason since 1956 and joined Golden Rule Lodge in 1960, so I was privileged to have been here for a few years when the downtown temple was standing. I wish I could have seen it in its full splendor, before the lower floors were chopped up to accommodate renters. We have been told that the magnificent auditorium on the first floor was the site of many extravaganzas, including at one point even a circus, with a live elephant on stage. The pipe organ in the fourth floor Masonic Hall, which I played on occasion, was disassembled, stored in pieces for several years and later reassembled and is in use at the Northside Community Church on Barton Drive.