The Architecture of Illinois Holy Royal Arch Freemasonry
Masonic temples our chapters call home
If your temple is not depicted, or if you have images of current or former Masonic Temples in Illinois, please email images of it to the Grand Webmaster. Thank you.
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Located at 302 East Jefferson Street,
the temple is the home of
Bloomington Chapter No. 26 whose convocations are held on the third
Wednesday evening of each month.
Click here to visit the
chapter’s website.
The upper image comes courtesy of the Scottish Rite
Valley of Bloomington. The lower image is
from a
postcard, courtesy of the Illinois Lodge of Research’s Louis L. Williams Masonic Library. |
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Chicago – Jefferson Park Masonic Temple
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Located at 5418 West Gale Street, the Jefferson Park Masonic Temple has been home to LaFayette Chapter No. 2 since December 2006. The cornerstone was laid 13 September 1912, and the temple was dedicated 4 January 1913.[1] Fellowship Chapter No. 235 met there until that chapter’s merger into Irving Park Chapter No. 195 on 17 January 1964. The mid-construction photograph and the blueprints, both shown to the left, come to us through the courtesy of Hesperia Lodge No. 411, A.F.&A.M. LaFayette Chapter’s monthly convocations are held on the fourth Tuesday evening of each month. Click here to visit the chapter’s website. Please click here for images of the LaFayette Chapter’s hall in the Jefferson Park Masonic Temple. [1] See Bruce Barnes, ed., “History and Rededication of Jefferson Masonic Temple,” The Hesperian (Chicago), vol. 70, no. 3 (July 2005): 1, 16. |
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Chicago – Mont Clare Masonic Temple
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Located at 6910 West Grand Avenue, Mont Clare Masonic Temple is the home of Irving Park Chapter No. 195 whose convocations are held on the second Tuesday evening of each month, less July and August when the chapter is dark. |
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Chicago – Scottish Rite Cathedral (in memoriam)
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The cathedral was a complex of individual, yet abutting and interconnected, buildings facing Walton Place, Dearborn Street, and Delaware Place, all owned by the Scottish Rite Valley of Chicago. The most prominent of the buildings was the limestone church at 935 North Dearborn Street [n.s.] (originally 235 Dearborn Avenue [o.s.]), built by Collier’s Unity Church,[2] an offshoot of the Unitarians,[3] beginning with the laying of its cornerstone on 29 August 1867, and later purchased by the Medinah Shriners on 30 April 1903.[4] The more significant building in the complex, from our perspective here, however, is the large structure built, and first occupied in 1905, by the Scottish Rite [5] in the centre of the block, adjoining the south side of the church, and accessing the street via a stone-faced corridor extension constructed in the vacated alleyway at 923 North Dearborn Street [n.s.] (293-5 Dearborn Avenue [o.s.]).[6] The Valley’s so-called “Small Preceptory” occupied the third floor of this building in the centre of the block, and was the meeting place of LaFayette Chapter No. 2 from the 1960s until the complex was turned over to the property developers on 19 December 2006.[7] The structure was carefully razed over the course of several weeks in September and October 2007;[8] care and precision were required in order not to damage the surrounding structures. Despite it having been constructed by the Scottish Rite, rather than a Royal Arch chapter or other York Rite entity, notice the keystone design of the apex of the west wall in the second photograph on the left. In later years, large ductwork obscured the view of the keystone shape. Both buildings face Washington Square Park, popularly known in the early 20th Century as “Bughouse Square.” [9] The colourised postcard to the left depicts both Medinah Shriners’ church building and the Scottish Rite’s structure (albeit with the entrance to the latter erroneously coloured as brick, rather than as its actual grey stone), sometime between 1905 and 1911, C.E. The monochromatic photograph of the Scottish Rite structure and the 1891 George B. Carpenter mansion comes to us by the courtesy of the Scottish Rite Valley of Chicago. The aerial or orbital photographs of the complex are copyright by MapQuest and are used herein pursuant to the fair use doctrine. The areal photograph of the demolition were captured by Companion Stanley W. Smith of LaFayette Chapter No. 2 on 13 September 2007. The ground-level photographs were captured by Companion David A. Miley, Grand Webmaster, also of LaFayette Chapter No. 2 on 15 September and 1 November 2007. Please click here for our page about LaFayette Chapter’s hall in the former Scottish Rite Cathedral. Please click here for more images and information about the former Scottish Rite Cathedral.
[2] Sam Loiacono & Harry Strouse, eds., Scottish
Rite Cathedral Tour, Valley of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois: Scottish Rite Valley of Chicago (2003): 1.
[3] Alphonse Cerza, 33°, A History of the Ancient
Accepted Scottish Rite in Illinois, 1846-1965, Bloomington, Illinois: Illinois Council of Deliberation (1966): 65-66.
[4] Id.
[5] George W. Warvelle, LL.D., 33°, History of Scottish
Rite Masonry in Chicago: From its introduction until the semi-centennial anniversary in the year 1907, Chicago: Oriental Consistory
(1907): 38.
[6] Id. at 19.
[7] Companion Gregory R. Klemm,
MEPGHP, 33°, “Scottish Rite - Valley of Chicago change of address” email message, Chicago: Scottish Rite Valley of Chicago (12 Dec. 2006).
[8] Companion Stanley W. Smith (LaFayette Chapter No. 2), email statement to
Companion David A. Miley, Grand Webmaster
(LaFayette Chapter No. 2),
(17 Sep. 2007); Companions Stanley W. Smith & David A. Miley (LaFayette Chapter No. 2),
personal observations and photographic records (17 Sep. - 1 Nov.
2007).
[9] Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago, Chicago,
Illinois: Chicago Historical Society (n/k/a Chicago History Museum), at
http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/
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Danville Scottish Rite Cathedral (no chapter at present)
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Located at
109 West North Street, the cathedral of the
Scottish Rite Valley of Danville was the home of
Vermillion Chapter No. 82 until that
chapter’s 2004 merger into Champaign Chapter No. 50.
The image is from a
postcard, courtesy of the Illinois Lodge of Research’s Louis L. Williams Masonic Library. |
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Located at 224
West Williams Street, Decatur’s Masonic Temple is the home of
Macon Chapter No. 21 whose convocations are held on the third Thursday evening of each month.
Click here to visit the
chapter’s website.
Please click here for images of the Macon Chapter’s hall in the Decatur Temple. |
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Located at 923 Curtiss
Street, the Downers Grove Masonic Temple is the home of
West Suburban Chapter No. 207 whose convocations are held on the First Monday of the
month in October through June, and the third Monday in September; the chapter is dark in July and August.
The imagery to the left come to us through the courtesy of Grove Lodge
No. 824, A.F.&A.M. |
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Located at
1453
Maple Avenue, the Evanston Masonic Temple is home to Evanston Chapter No. 144 whose
convocations are held on the first Monday evening of each month.
The 1928 temple was designed by world-famous architect, the late Companion John A. Holabird,
and replaced a previous temple built on the same site in 1889.
The second photograph on the left is a screen capture from
Toth and Parsons Productions’ The Freemasons: The Mystery, Myth
and Truth (1995, 2005), which was filmed almost entirely in and
around Evanston Masonic Temple, Medinah Shriners’ former ‘mosque’ in Chicago, and the
former Scottish Rite
Cathedral in Chicago.
The third photograph
was captured by Companion David Miley, the Grand
Webmaster.
Please click here for our page featuring Evanston Chapter’s
“Doric Hall”. |
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Freeport Scottish Rite Cathedral
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Located at 305
West Stephenson Street, the Freeport Scottish Rite Cathedral is home to
Freeport Chapter No. 23.
Freeport Chapter’s monthly convocations are held on the first Tuesday evening of each month, less July and August when the chapter is dark.
The upper image is from a postcard, courtesy of the
Illinois Lodge of Research’s Louis L. Williams Masonic Library.
The lower image is from the website of the Valley of Freeport. |
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Located at 1450 North Lehigh Avenue, the Glenview Masonic Temple is home to Oracle Chapter No. 180. Oracle Chapter’s monthly convocations are held on the second Thursday evening of each month. Click here to visit the chapter’s website. The images were captured by Right Excellent Companion, Richard E. Yena, Deputy Grand High Priest, on 12 January 2008. |
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Hinsdale Masonic Temple (no chapter at present)
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Located at
40 South Washington Street, the Hinsdale Masonic Temple was the home
of Hinsdale Chapter No. 278
until its 1966 merger into Grove
Chapter No. 230 in Downers Grove.
The colourised postcard images to the left depict the temple circa 1909, and, like the
modern photograph of the front door, come to
us through the courtesy of Excellent Companion Paul A. Scheeler, High
Priest of
LaFayette Chapter No. 2 in Chicago,
and Past Master of
Hinsdale Lodge No. 934,
A.F.&A.M. The
monochromatic photograph depicts the temple circa 1920 and comes to us
by the courtesy of
Hinsdale Lodge No. 934,
A.F.&A.M. Please click here for our page featuring Hinsdale Chapter’s former hall. Please click here to read more about the history of Hinsdale Masonic Temple. |
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Hoopston Masonic Temple (in memoriam)
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Hoopston’s Masonic Temple & Commercial Club was the home of the former
Hoopston Chapter No. 181.
This image is from a postcard, courtesy of the
Illinois Lodge of Research’s Louis L. Williams Masonic Library. |
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Located at
345 West College Avenue, Jacksonville’s Masonic Temple is the home of Jacksonville Chapter
No. 3 whose convocations are held on the second Monday evening of each month.
This photograph comes to us through the courtesy of Most Excellent Companion Franklin E. Cline,
Past Grand High Priest. |
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Mount Carmel Masonic Hall & Palace Theatre
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Mount Carmel’s Masonic Hall and Palace Theatre was the home of
Mount Carmel Chapter
No. 159.
This image is from a postcard, courtesy of the
Illinois Lodge of Research’s Louis L. Williams Masonic Library. |
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Located at 405 South Fair Street,
Olney’s Masonic Temple is the home of
Henry Godeke Chapter No. 38, whose monthly convocations are held on the 4th Monday of each month.
Click here to visit the chapter’s website.
This image comes to us through the courtesy of the
Olney York Rite bodies. |
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Located at 149 1/2 North Market Street,
Paxton’s Masonic Temple is the home of Ford Chapter No. 113 whose convocations are held on
the third Thursday evening of each month.
Notice the globe lights bearing the symbols to indicate the various Masonic organisations in the temple, including the
triple-tau, equilateral triangle, and circle, representing the supreme degree of the
Holy Royal Arch, and thus Ford Chapter No. 113.
This photograph was captured by Companion David Miley,
the Grand Webmaster. |
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Located at 122 North Park Street,
Streator’s Masonic Temple is the home of Streator Chapter No. 168 whose convocations are held on the second
Tuesday evening of each month.
This photograph was captured by J. A. Brown, and comes to us through the courtesy of
Image Community. |
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Sullivan – Royal Arch Memorial Hospital (in memoriam)
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A temple of mercy built in 1915 and expanded in 1973, the Royal Arch Memorial Hospital served the residents of Mason Point (formerly known as the Illinois Masonic Home) at Sullivan, and was the official philanthropic concern of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of the State of Illinois, until 2006 when the hospital was converted to a Medicare facility by the Grand Lodge of Illinois, owner of Mason Point. The hospital is a fifty-bed (all private rooms) facility, providing intermediate level nursing care. |
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Located at 120 West Wesley Street
This photograph was captured
by Companion David Miley, the Grand
Webmaster. |
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This site was last updated 03/04/08