Vicksburg's Lost Masonic Temple

During the early 20th century, most American cities of any size or commercial prominence had a Masonic Temple or Lodge. Often it was a well-built building in the commercial area, typically dating from the late-1800s or early 1900s. The Masons must have been fabulously wealthy to be able to buy land and erect substantial brick buildings in major cities. I sometimes wondered if Vicksburg had a lodge, and by pure chance, found some photographs in the Library of Congress' holdings.

This rather severe three-floor building is the former Masonic Temple, at the corner of Grove and Washington Streets. The view is looking uphill to the east along Grove Street. This building and the small shops to the left were razed sometime before 1985, and the grassy lot now serves the weekly farmers' market. The present Highway 61 Coffeehouse and Attic Gallery are just off the frame to the right, where the cars are pointing. The metadata from Library of Congress does not provide a specific date other than post-1933. My guess from the cars is mid-1970s.

This is the view of the rear. The windows are broken out, so it must have been abandoned at the time the photograph was taken. My friend from Mississippi Department of Archives and History checked and found an undated article from the Vicksburg Sunday Post, apparently from the 1970s with a photo of the building and a caption noting that it had recently "been taken by Urban Renewal" and demolished. The article was mostly about the history of the lodge and the contents of  in its cornerstone. The urban renewal craze of the late-1970s demolished many historic buildings in Vicksburg.

This is a photograph from a 1931 paper (James, P.E. 1931. Vicksburg: A Study in Urban Geography, Geographical Review, Vol. 21, No. 2 (Apr., 1931), pp. 234-243). The Temple is the building with a light roof in the middle left. Note the gas tank in the middle of the photograph near the river.

This is postcard 90864-01-postcard_View North from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. The temple is the tall building in the right center. The Yazoo Canal is in flood, and I wonder if this was taken during the 1927 flood?

This is the grassy field where the buildings once stood. They were already gone when I moved to town in 1985. The limestone block wall in the center may be Civil-War era. The building on the right received a major renovation and conversion into a BBQ restaurant. It operated for only a few months (maybe a couple of years?), and the building is for sale.

The Reverend Dennis painted the Masonic symbol in several places on Margaret's Gro on North Washington Street. He spent two decades decorating the old grocery store as a "Bible Temple to God." The Reverend passed away a few years ago, and his Temple is crumbling away.

If anyone can add any information about the Vicksburg Masonic Temple, please add to the comments. Based on a quick search, I found two present lodges. I do not know how active they are.
1. Masonic Temple, W.G. Paxton Lodge #559; and
2. William H. Stevens Lodge #121, F&AM Masonic Lodge in Vicksburg, MS.

Abandoned Masonic Temple, West Capitol Street, Jackson, Mississippi

West Capitol Street in Jackson is discouraging and grim. Once you cross under the railroad tracks south of the recently-restored Union Station and head northwest, you enter a Detroit-like post apocalyptic world of empty lots, crumbling houses, abandoned shops, and once-grand churches that now serve different congregations than the ones who built the edifices.

Looming over churches, shops, and bumpy parking lots is a semi-abandoned Masonic Temple at 1130 West Capitol. According to my friend at MDAH, the temple was built around 1923-25 and was designed by South Carolina architect Hyman W. Witcover. Witcover was active in the Masonic order and designed other Masonic temples in the South. Otherwise, MDAH has very little information about the building, and a Google search revealed minimal information. The Masons abandoned their West Capital building in the early 1990s, and moved to a steel structure on I-55 S.

As you can see, this was essentially a big box with some decorative elements, pseudo-columns. I wish I could get inside. I assume there was a big auditorium or meeting hall in the center. I once heard that many of these temples were semi-legally-sanctioned speakeasies in the Prohibition era. All the best people in town were members.

The cornerstone on Bratton Street (on the back of the building?) said 1923. Water was pouring out of the foundation and this corner had large cracks in the brick walls. I asked some people in a small shack across the street about the water, but they seemed baffled or did not understand what I was talking about. Or maybe they had not noticed even though the sidewalk was turning into a swamp.

Only one window on the basement level had dusty panes where I could place the camera.

This was a progressive design with an elevator access on the ground floor.

Right across the intersection at 101 Rose Street is this imposing mansion. It shows what a prosperous neighborhood this was in the early 20th century.

Further in town (east) at the intersection of West Amite and West Capital Streets, the scene is of abandoned and closed businesses. What will revive an area like this? Look at much of Detroit, which was once a much more prosperous city than Jackson, and you see that once the decay sets in, it progresses indefinitely.

These are digital files from a Fujifilm X-E1 digital camera.

UPDATE July 2022:  The masonic lodge and the abandoned mansion on Rose Street are still standing. The entire area looks dirtier and more abandoned.

Decay in Pontiac, Michigan

Pontiac is one of many industrial cities in Michigan that has seen more prosperous days and is struggling to revive itself. It is not nearly as dilapidated as Detroit or Flint, but it has poverty, abandoned houses, crime, and other social ills that plague cities with diminishing tax bases and flight of wealthier residents to other communities. I only had a short time to explore and want to share some photographs.

This is the view looking west from the 4th floor of the Masonic Temple on Lafayette Street. Not too cheerful.

This is the First Baptist Church at the junction of Oakland and Lafayette Streets. The building is no longer used as a church, and I am not sure what the sign "Edifice 34" means.

The church reflects a modified Art Deco aesthetic, with brickwork leading the eye upwards. The building was built to last and appears to be sound.

Interesting doors with a porthole motif. Some sort of transom has been removed. You can see the outline of a Salvation Army logo on the black metal.

Salvation Army and possibly the Red Cross have used the facility, but I could not tell if there is current activity. It was locked on a Tuesday morning.

Unfortunately, there are homeless people.

I headed out of town on North Perry Street. It was a mixture of nice little cottages and units marked for demolition. These traditional apartments looked clean from a distance.

Consumers Power on Featherstone Road was demolishing their office building. It was a fairly modern unit, so I am not sure what this is all about.

Finally, we get to the condemned and infamous Silverdome at 1200 Featherstone Road. Built in 1975, it was home to the National Football League's Detroit Lions. The city of Pontiac built the 80,000-seat Silverdome for $55.7 million but it sold at auction in November 2009 for $583,000. They never followed through in the 1970s with other tourist attractions or local revitalization. The dome was refurbished and some events were held there in 2010, but the roof collapsed in a snowstorm December 2012. My friend and I tried to get into the site, but it was secured. I am sure local urban spelunkers know how to get access. Anyway, it is a mess and a company is auctioning all the contents, including seats and urinals. Just what I want in my souvenir collection.

If you pay attention to the media, you would think Michigan is a total and utter mess, with every town imploding like Detroit or Flint. But the reality is much different. Michigan is full of nice towns with friendly and energetic people. My friend lives in Brighton, and I was surprised how clean and neat it was, with an old-fashioned downtown featuring good restaurants and specialty shops. I could not resist photographing this Coney Joes shack.

Even more surprising, on summer evenings, the teenagers dance! It was a clean-cut crowd, and they called me "Sir," and were having a good time. If I were a few decades younger, I could have showed them how to cha-cha.

Photographs taken with a Fujifilm X-E1 digital camera, with RAW files processed in PhotoNinja, or with a Nexus 4 telephone.