Masons look to the future in centennial year

This week we’ll conclude our look back at the rich history of our local Masonic Lodge #380 located at 601 Palm Avenue to join them in celebrating their centennial year of service to Huntington Beach on June 25.

Lodge historian Charles “Chuck” Grosman has been a great help in preparing this celebration and its recorded history. He told me they are planning a dinner at 6 p.m. and an open to the public program at 7 p.m. at the lodge hall on June 25.

I first learned some of its rich history about 30 years ago from a friend and member, Yoder ? he likes to use only one name ? who runs a sign-painting business here in Huntington Beach.

When I would visit him at his former location on Lake Street he would proudly show me what additions he found to add to his huge collection of Masonic memorabilia that he collected over the years.

On his walls and in glass cases he had everything from tiny watch fobs to large metal signs. Some of those pieces had belonged to his father, who was also a Mason.

I also learned that this is an organization in which several generations of fathers and sons belong.

In last week’s column, we learned the lodge had gotten a large rent increase and looked around for a site of their own and found it at the corner of Lake Street and Palm Avenue in 1947.

The hall upstairs at Pacific Coast Highway and Main would continue to be used for meetings for the next several years.

It would be the scene of many instillations, including one in April 2, 1951 for the Huntington Beach Chapter of DeMolay, where the gavel was passed to Arthur Henderson from the retiring Master Jerry Burdick.

Jeanette Clapp and Edna Conrad furnished entertainment that evening.

On May 24 of that year, Marilyn Huish was chosen Honored Queen of Job’s Daughters along with Flora Brown, senior princess; Valeria Morgan, junior princess; Joyce White, guide; and Jane Cowling, Marshal.

During this meeting, the outgoing queen, Darlyne LeBard, received an American Beauty rose.

With more events and members joining the lodge, the Masons decided it was time to use that property they had purchased on Palm and Lake.

In 1953 they purchased two old World War II Army barracks from the Santa Ana Air Base, and the two buildings would be taken apart by 49 lodge members and brought to the new site in Huntington Beach to be used in constructing the new Masonic Temple.

Salvaged material that wasn’t used was sold for $700 and with the material used in the construction saved the lodge $5,100 on the cost of the building.

On May 5, 1953, a ground-breaking breakfast was held inside the old Memorial Hall at Sixth Street and Main. The breakfast raised $2,000 for the building fund.

O.W. “Shorty” Rider chaired the breakfast and Ray Thompson acted as master of ceremonies while members of the Eastern Star, Job’s Daughters and DeMolay served breakfast.

After breakfast they adjourned to the new site, where Grand Warden Edgar Stewart, Jr., turned over the first spade of dirt, assisted in the ceremony by David D. Winters.

The lodge held one last meeting in the old location on Sept. 5, 1953, and from there they would march to the new location to lay the cornerstone. The Grand Lodge of California helped participate in this ceremony.

Yoder told me the Masons always lay the cornerstone on the eastside because the sun rises in the East.

Helping lay the cornerstone was Paul Burtner, Luke Davis, Fred Swartz, Leonard Benning and Frank Harwell, Jr.

Inside this stone was placed a sealed box containing all the names of the people who made contributions to the building, along with several pieces of Masonic memorabilia.

I asked Charles Grosman if they were going to open the cornerstone and inspect the items inside and was told that they had tried to remove the stone, but it was sealed so well that it would take an atom bomb to dislodge it from its present location.

In October 1953 the foundation was completed and within eight months the building was completed. Today it would take that long just to get the city permits from the Planning Department.

The formal dedication took place on July 14, 1954, and when the costs were totaled it amounted to $26,288.25 to build the lodge.

During the 1960s and ‘70s most of the schools in our town had the lodge lay their cornerstones, beginning with Peterson School on April 21, 1963 and finishing with Seacliff School on April 7, 2000. They even laid the cornerstone for Golden West College on April 30, 1966.

Masonic Master of the lodge Ronald Campbell has great plans for the coming year, and Mason Lee Jones told me that this June 25 event should be a great event and that only a few dinner tickets are still available.

The lodge is now looking forward to when it will again celebrate another century of service to the community.