Prior to the construction of the Grand Lodge of Texas, a freemason-affiliated organization known as the Karem Shriners built the grandiose Karem Shrine Temple at Seventh and Washington. Substantial in size and embellished with Masonic emblems, the building drew in Shriners across Texas and around the country.
The Shriners, or the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, originated in New York in the late nineteenth century. The founders, Walter M. Fleming and William J. Florence, sought to form a fraternal organization complete with social activities and philanthropic opportunities for freemasons. Though freemason membership did not require involvement with the Shrine, only members of the Scottish Rite or York Rite who had reached Master Mason status could become Shriners. The order grew rapidly at the turn of the century, boasting 55,000 national members by 1900.
In January 1919, freemasons in Waco established a local Shriner order. Locals W.A. Parker, N.D. Naman, A.J. Dossett, and W.F. Quebe met with Shriners in Dallas as they endeavored to grow the new Karem Shrine from its original one hundred members. To gain a formal charter, the Karem Shriners acquired six hundred signatures from supporters across the community. Upon reaching the necessary requirements for the charter, the organization hosted a celebratory ceremony on July 4, where hundreds more expressed interest in membership.
By April 1920, the Shriners had named the Divian, or the leaders, of the Karem Shrine organization and reached over one thousand members. Within the order, branches for the patrol and band formed. At many galas, dinners, and other social gatherings, the Karem Shrine band provided entertainment. Locations such as the prominent downtown Raleigh Hotel hosted Shriner ceremonies and dances where the Shriners’ notable regalia, which included a fez, often appeared.
In addition to social events, Shriners conducted extensive charity work. Initially, Shrine orders provided aid to children with polio but expanded their philanthropic efforts to include children with spinal cord injuries as well as pediatric burn victims. By 1927, the Karem Shrine organization had donated over $25,000 to pediatric hospitals and continued their fundraising efforts through local drives to support the Shrine Hospital in Houston. They also regularly hosted Karem Shrine Circuses and Carnivals and partnered with community organizations, such as the Salvation Army, to provide shoes and other necessities to children in need.
From the time of its establishment throughout the 1920s, the Karem Shrine met in the Grand Lodge of Texas at Eighth and Columbus. As the local order continued to grow, the Shriners decided to construct their own building. They hoped to create a space that would attract freemasons from across the United States and result in further growth of Shriner membership. In 1927, Dallas architects Greene, LaRoche, and Dahl created architectural plans for the new Karem Shrine Temple building on Seventh and Washington, and Wacoan Roy Ellsworth Lane worked as associate architect. Waco’s J.S. Harrison Construction Company planned to begin construction in November 1927.
The quarter of a million-dollar project, over four million dollars today, consisted of three stories and a basement. The ground floor contained several stores and areas available for local businesses and organizations to rent. The second floor held a dining room with a 150-person capacity and large kitchen as well as game rooms for pool and billiards, offices for Shrine officials, and meeting spaces for the patrol and band. The third floor comprised an elaborate dance hall and a rooftop garden that overlooked downtown Waco. The lavish architecture attracted two thousand Shriners from across the state to the building’s dedication day in November 1928. That day, visitors gathered at the ceremony where Texas Senator Tom Connally addressed the audience. The building opened for public viewing on November 30, and the Karem Shriners declared the Temple structure one of the most sophisticated in the Southwest.
The Karem Shriners remained at 701 Washington Avenue until they relocated in 1995. At that time, McLennan County officials purchased the structure, and the organization’s headquarters moved to the outskirts of Waco on North River Crossing. Though the county utilized office space in the building, it remained mostly vacant—other than the remaining scimitars, double eagles, and Masonic symbols featured on the ground level.
In 2018, the county placed the building for sale through Peevey Real Estate Company. Buyers from across the country expressed interest in the historic building, but local renovators Chip and Joanna Gaines acquired the structure through Magnolia Vacation Rentals. The Fixer Upper stars have plans to develop the building into a boutique hotel called Hotel 1928 by Fall 2023.
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]]>Few sites in Waco capture the richness and complexity of the city’s history better than First Street Cemetery. The city’s oldest resting place, it holds the remains of many of Waco’s prominent early residents. However, its caretaking and development leave a checkered legacy. Located along the south bank of the Brazos River, Waco established the “City Cemetery” to inter the remains of its citizens. Beginning in 1852, what became First Street Cemetery progressed in four stages as the city’s expanding population necessitated more burial space. The local Masonic Lodge buried its members there. In 1868, the International Order of Odd Fellows—another fraternal organization—purchased additional land in which to inter its members. Then finally, a permit from the city government in 1882 allotted space for “colored persons.” Despite these enlargements, the cemetery suffered from overcrowding. Bodies were often buried on top of one another and gravesites were poorly marked. It is the lack of care that distinguished First Street Cemetery from other burial sites in Waco. Unlike other cemeteries in town, First Street did not possess an association charged with maintaining the space. From its inception, the graveyard suffered from perpetual neglect, vandalism, and, due to its riverside location, flooding. The City of Waco struggled to consistently address these issues.
News reports at the turn of the twentieth century expressed Wacoans’ frustrations at the dilapidated condition of the cemetery. As a result, the surviving families of some people interred at First Street elected to rebury remains at another location. The poor state of the cemetery, combined with the lack of records on the space, increasingly made it into a site considered for new development. In 1967, the City of Waco received federal funding to turn a portion of the cemetery into Fort Fisher and the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum. To do so required the relocation of headstones and remains in the area slated for development. Some Wacoans expressed mixed feelings about the transfer, but received assurances from the city that burial sites were receiving proper care. After the relocation, construction commenced and Fort Fisher opened to the public in 1968. However, the choices made during renovation reverberated into the twenty-first century. In 2006, the city granted permission for the expansion Fort Fisher to include a building for the Texas Ranger Company “F” Headquarters. The city hired an archeologist to study the proposed site prior to construction. After a cursory examination, he recommended that building commence. Work on the site did not last long. The digging of initial trenches in 2007 quickly uncovered remains, demonstrating that the 1967 construction only relocated headstones, not those interred there. It also disclosed a lack of due diligence in the archeological study done for the expansion. A team of forensic anthropologists and archeologists soon arrived in Waco and began excavating and analyzing the site. Over several years, the process uncovered the remains of over two hundred people. They contained important insights about nineteenth-century burial practices, like the frequent appearance of ornamental coffins that indicated the internment of people with some means. Wacoans responded to these revelations by banding together to ensure the dead and their remains were treated with dignity and respect. Composed of a cross-section of the Waco community, the First Street Cemetery Memorial Advisory Committee formed in 2013 to address the practical issues raised by the revelations about the development of the graveyard. Throughout their five years of operation, the committee proved instrumental in finding a reburial site for the remains at Rosemound Cemetery and placing a historical marker at the site. As a sign of care and respect, they chose to reinter the remains in cedar coffins rather than cardboard boxes. The report they filed and the public meetings they conducted helped keep the community informed and engaged with the activities at the cemetery.
Maintaining the cemetery continues to be a challenge into the present. Headstones and plots manifest different degrees of care. To date, no community organization has received permission from the city to maintain the cemetery.
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]]>The Grand Lodge of Texas on Columbus Avenue has long served as the center of operations for masonry in Texas and is one of the largest freemason lodges in the world.
The Grand Lodge of the Republic of Texas, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons is the oldest continuously operating organization in Texas, established through the Grand Lodge of Louisiana in 1835 and becoming its own entity in 1837, with Sam Houston presiding over the organizational meeting. It developed into the fifth-largest masonic lodge in the world as well as the headquarters for Texas freemasons. On December 6, 1904, it moved from Houston to Waco. Twentieth-century modernization and rapid economic expansion made Waco’s central location in the state the perfect location for the masons, establishing prime conditions for the growth of the Grand Lodge.
The fraternal organization initially shared a building with the National Guard in Waco but needed more space as the lodge continued to grow. The masons formed a committee, purchased land, and crafted a building design. On December 23, 1947, the Masons held a groundbreaking ceremony. The two million dollar project was completed in 1949, and the One Hundred and Fourteenth Annual Communication was the first event held in the new lodge.
The building, located on Columbus Avenue between Sixth Street and Seventh Street, is grandiose. The Grand Lodge’s granite white stone finish and design are inspired by the description given in the Bible of King Solomon’s Temple—a massive, elegant structure constructed to hold the Ark of the Covenant. The impressive structure attracts many viewers and draws interest to downtown Waco.
At first glance, eyes are drawn to the two large pillars in front of the building with globes situated on top. One globe is terrestrial while the other globe is celestial. Contemplating these two bodies is meant to inspire the studies of geometry, astronomy, geography, and navigation through which more extensive knowledge of the mysteries of nature and laws which govern the universe may be obtained. The other noticeable feature on the outside of Grand Lodge is a stone bas-relief illustrating people quarrying, transporting, and setting stones for the construction of King Solomon’s Temple. Raoul Josset, a French-born American sculptor whose work can be seen throughout Texas, received a commission in 1948 to incorporate the sculpture onto the side of the building. This architectural feature separated the building from any other in Waco or Texas.
Internally, the lodge contains facilities such as offices, meeting halls, a library, and a museum. Additionally, items such as Sam Houston’s gavel, the Masonic constitution, petitions, books, speeches, communication notes, and portraits are on display within. This impressive building, which combines both a visual experience and a practical space, accomplishes more than just sharing the knowledge of the history, of the Texas Masonic Order. The Grand Lodge preserves information on Waco and Texas history making it an important part in understanding the surrounding region.
In addition to meeting the needs of Texas freemasons, the Grand Lodge of Texas has served as a center for the fraternal organization’s charitable operations as well. The Masons largely centered their efforts upon the provision of education for children, establishing both Masonic-sponsored and public schools throughout Texas. Some other charities of the Texas freemasons include the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Crippled Children and the Shriners Burns Institute in Galveston.
Today the Grand Lodge of Texas remains the center of freemasonry in Texas, in addition to standing as one of the hallmark architectural pieces of the city.
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