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History Tour
Material for this report is liberally taken from "History of St. John's Lodge No. 9 F&AM, Volume II by Alexandra Rush"
| At 3:30 on a rather grey October afternoon members and families of St. John's Lodge No. 9 met for a tour into the Lodge's past. A large white tour bus had been secured for the afternoon and the driver turned out to be the | |  |
| Junior Warden of Steilacoom Lodge No. 2, St. John's Lodge No. 9's mother Lodge. |
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 | | The tour director for this event was Alexandra Rush, author of Volume II of St. John's Lodge's history. She handed out the itinerary, a plat map of Lakeview Cemetery, and a crossword quiz on St. John's history. |
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The tour bus had smoked windows which did not open so taking pictures during the tour was, unfortunately, not possible.
Leaving the SRMC the bus went through the Capitol Hill business district where we viewed the Bonney-Watson funeral parlor. This business was originally begun by PM Oliver Shorey. He took Lyman Bonney, who became the Lodge Treasurer for thirty-one years, as a partner and eventually sold his share of the business to Bonney. Bonney then took George Stewart as a partner and Stewart hired Henry Watson. In 1894, Watson accepted the position of superintendent of the Masonic Cemetery. He became Bonney's business partner in 1903 when Stewart left. The Bonney-Watson Company is one of the oldest continuously operating businesses in the city.
Turning on to Pine Street we next went by the Seattle Masonic Temple which is on Harvard and Pine Street. Finished in 1916 this building housed St. John's Lodge No. 9 for the next fifty seven years. It now is part of Seattle Central Community College and will continue to serve the city in that capacity into the future.
Across Pine Street from the Seattle Masonic Temple is the original site of Broadway High School which was built to accommodate the youth arising from the population increase caused by the Alaska gold rush of 1898. This school served the youth of our city from 1902 until 1946 when it transformed to a vocational school and was renamed Edison Technical School. In 1969 the school was rebuilt into Seattle Central Community College and the original Broadway High School Building was transformed into the Broadway Performance Hall.
Heading South-East from Broadway and Pine Streets we went to sixteenth and Jefferson where on a corner lot sits a rather dilapidated old house. This house was the residence of PM George Carmack who is credited with finding the gold which began the Alaskan gold rush in 1898. This propery is privately owned and a very elderly lady lives in the home. It is on the National Historical Register.
Next we went to the Pioneer Square district where we viewed the original site of St. John's Lodge. This site was probably Henry Yesler's cookhouse which stood in the middle of what is now Yesler Way about fifty feet west of First Avenue on the land side of Yesler's Mill. This building was slightly more than one story in height and was about twenty-five feet square with a small shed at the back. As an aside, the property from the mill to what is now the waterfront is sawdust from Yesler's mill, ships ballast and fill from various land moving projects. The entire Seattle waterfront where the present Alaskan Way Viaduct now stands consists of over 30,000 tons of ships ballast from Telegraph Hill in San Francisco and fill from various city earth moving projects including the Denny regrade and downtown projects.
Continuing up First Avenue we next came to the site of St. John's Lodge No. 9's first actual Lodge building. This stood on the East side of First Avenue between James and Cherry Streets. This meeting hall burned to the ground in the Great Seattle Fire of 1889. The location is now a bit ambiguous because of the business buildings on that block and one would have to have a plat map of the area to find the South half of Lot 4 and the North five feet of Lot 5 of Boren and Denny's plat.
Travelling north-east from that location we next came to the ten acre area (almost three city blocks) containing the Four Seasons Olympic Hotel, Rainier Square, the Skinner Building, the IBM Building, Puget Sound Plaza, the Financial Center, the Cobb Building, and other holdings in the central business core of the city. This property was donated for building and housing the University of Washington by Arthur and Mary Denney, Charles and Mary Terry, and Edward Lander. The University has since sold a bit of the original land and has gained an additional acre in a trade with the United States Postal service and a land purchase bringing the total to eleven acres. St. John's Lodge met in the original University building's Chapel for a short time and then moved to the Young Naturalists Hall which was located on University property at Fourth Ave. and University Street where the Cobb Building now stands. These eleven acres bring in millions of dollars a year to our public University.
The University moved to its present location when Denny Hall was completed in 1895. The Alaska - Yukon - Pacific Exposition utilized acreage around this site and provided the University with most of its buildings following the exposition in 1909. Past Master's of St. John's Lodge including PM's Daniel Bagley, and Edmund Meany as well as member Asa Mercer have been instrumental in shaping the destiny of our University and for this we are justly proud.
Travelling north on Fourth Ave. we next passed the location of the old Imperial Hotel which was located between Union and Pike Streets on the East side of the street. This property belonged to St. John's Lodge from 1907 until it was sold in 1973. This property had proven to be a burden on the finances of the Lodge and its sale provided the Lodge with the beginning of its present financial health.
Second Ave. and Pike Street was the next destination where the site of St. John's Lodge's second temple stood. This building is now mostly a parking garage but originally held a three story building which housed Fredrick and Nelson's store and other businesses. The lodge met there from 1892 until the mortgage came into default due the inability of the Lodge to secure financing because of the reaction throughout the Grand Lodges in the United States regarding our Grand Lodge's resolution recommending recognition of Negro Masonry in 1898. The mortgage was in default in 1899 and the Lodge then moved back into the Chapel at the old University of Washington.
After nine meetings in that location the Lodge moved, once again, into the Young Naturalists Hall where it met for the next year and a half. It then moved to our next destination, the South-West corner of Second Ave. and Pike Street. This location held the Knights of Pythias hall. The Knights of Pythias was a fraternity which basically provided insurance to its endowed members and their families. St. John's Lodge rented space there for about a year until it entered into an agreement with the Seattle Commandery of the Knights Templar to move into its new hall which was being built at First Avenue between Bell and Battery Street on the East side. This building is still existent and the F&AM is still on floor at the entrance to the upper floors. St. John's Lodge No. 9 met there until the Seattle Masonic Temple was finished.
Our next destination was the Moore Hotel located on Second Avenue between Stewart and Virginia Streets on the East side. This hotel was built by James A. Moore who was a member of St. John's Lodge and he platted the Latona, Brooklyn and University Heights neighborhoods. He also named Capitol Hill. The hotel was built to accommodate visitors to the Alaska - Yukon - Pacific Exposition.
Travelling around a few blocks we next arrived at the statue of St. John's Lodge member John Harte McGraw. This is one of the few statues of a person in Seattle. McGraw served the people of Washington as Sheriff of King County, city marshal and Chief of Police in Seattle and was the second Governor of the State of Washington.
| The bus then turned toward the University of Washington which is located on the north side of the Montlake Cut from Lake Washington to Union Bay. Here we viewed Denny Hall which was the first building used by the University to hold classes when it moved from the downtown site. | |  |
The silver goblets containing corn, wine, and oil used in the dedication of the cornerstone of this building were donated by St. John's Lodge and remained in University hands for many years. They are now in the archives of St. John's Lodge No. 9
 | | The Sylvan Theater on the University grounds was our next stop. This is the location of the original columns of the University of Washington. These columns were carved by Ossian J. Carr and the capitals were carved by Oliver Shorey, both members of St. John's Lodge. |
Although the plaque behind the pillars does not say so they were saved from the scrap heap by Shorey and were moved by him to their present location.
These pillars are used in the seal of the University and are the emblems of the institution today. | |  |
As the location of the pillars was the only time we exited the bus on the tour it was an excellent place to take pictures of those who went on the tour. Everyone enjoyed the time and there was one more stop to make before returning to the Scottish Rite Masonic Center.
This stop was on the top of Capitol Hill at the north end of Volunteer park at Lakeview Cemetery. This cemetery was begun by St. John's Lodge and the first 223 citizens of Seattle are buried there along with many others. Some of these are St. John's Lodge No. 9 members and include PGM's John Arthur, George Bovingdon, and John Jordan. Others include Doc. David Maynard, Hillory Butler, Ossian Carr, John Leary, Edmond Meany, Guy Phinney, Oliver Shorey, Henry Watson, John Webster, and many others.
Then it was back to the starting point where we were all ready for dinner and the October Stated Communication. Any who did not take this journey really missed something.
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