Looking Out Or Looking In?
The focus of my Lodge changed
Every October my Lodge opens up its doors for public tours operated by our Downtown Association.
In previous years, these tours were of our Lodge room, a fairly ornate and interesting space.
This year, the organizers wanted to tour people through our large formal dining room instead. A very nice, but undoubtedly dull room.
We call the space the Dining Room. The people running the tours kept referring to it as the Dance Hall. It was a bit disconcerting, as I’ve certainly never perceived it in that way.
But, the thing is, in the old days, it was a Dance Hall. The organizers of the tours weren’t wrong.
The very large kitchen that serves the Dining Room wasn’t a kitchen at all. It was the band stand.
At some point, the focus of our Lodge changed.
The building went up in the 1920’s, and we know that dances, open to the public were held there at least into the 1940’s. At some point though, I don’t know the year but must assume in the 1950’s or 1960’s, the band stand was torn out to be replaced by a kitchen.
The Lodge, in the early days, was using its real estate to hold an outward focus. To host large community events within the building. For the benefit of Masons, undoubtedly, but for the benefit of the larger community as well. Surely everyone in my city would have known about the Masons, and the Masonic Temple, because undoubtedly everyone would have attended or at least seen notices about the dances held there.
But then a kitchen went in, so that the Lodge could better host dinners for its membership. The focus of the building was shifted from outward to inward. No longer were we hosting large events for the community, we began hosting events for ourselves.
If we look at membership numbers at the time, it makes a lot of sense why this change was made. We had more men seeking membership in Freemasonry, in the late 1940’s and 1950’s than we could handle. Degrees were being conferred continually, and there would have never been any thought that exponential membership growth wouldn’t continue forever.
There was no need for the Lodge to continue holding an outward focus.
But, by shifting that focus inward, the Lodge lost its ability to participate in a really meaningful way, with the population of the city at large.
I’ve got to wonder if that wasn’t a really terrible decision.
We are making plans to remodel that kitchen at some point in the near future.
But, I have to wonder if doing so isn’t simply compounding a mistake of the past.
Maybe instead we should be ripping that kitchen out, and putting the old band stand back in place. Shifting the Lodge’s focus outward once again.
The inward focus has made us insular. Is it any wonder then that Freemasonry (as in all communities) has really limited visibility within our city?
What was your Masonic Temple like in the early days? Was it outwardly or inwardly focused? Do the Masons of today even know, or has that knowledge been lost?
Should we turn things around, switch back to an outward focus?
As I did my lunchtime walk today, I was listening to old-school Halloween festivity music, which was played by Frankie Stein and his Ghouls. The music goes back to the early 1960’s, back when our “old-timers” were in high school. Excellent dance music, although I was listening to it to get into the Halloween mood.
And there you go. Two routes that Centralia Lodge can take. We could turn it into a Haunted House during the last week of October, to get even more people into our building than the ghost walk does, or use the now-dance hall to hold a Halloween dance. And it’d be even better if we could get a live band to play the music similar to the early 60’s style “Teeny-bopper” Halloween music on the Frankie Stein and his Ghouls records. The Lodge already has a sax player than can play well enough for this kind of music – all you need is a bass player that can do at least basic bass lines, drummer, a guitarist who can play in a surf music style, and it sounds like a harmonica player.
What the hell. Toss all three together. Ghost Walk in mid-October, haunted house during the last week of October, and one of the last days of the month (if not Halloween itself), host a Halloween dance with the ghoul band in the Dance Hall!
MWB Bailey, given that we already have the implements of a kitchen in place as well as the supporting infrastructure. I think we should consider a blending of the two.
I think walking off the galley kitchen and reinstalling a small stage for weddings, music, and community speaking engagements would be a great way to go.
I think bringing in a variety of activities could help us to find our “niche” and see what groups bring the most prosperity to the Lodge. Whether it be an increase in membership, goodwill of the community, or financial support to the Lodge.
I know a fair number of weddings held up in the Seattle area Lodges did so for the ability to use kitchen space. As well as post graduation celebrations. There is also a large desire for places to host tabletop games and socially engaging activities to meet other people.
I think with an objective policy, an insurance requirement, and a clearly posted expectation of conduct we should be ok. Plus I don’t imagine having a brother stand in as facilities manager for the night would be a tough thing to coordinate either. Especially if we look to our Brethren for the types of activities they would like to support.