Granville Masons History, Part 3
By Erik Pekar, Town Historian
The Lodge voted at the April 14, 1948 meeting to authorize the M.T.A. to purchase the Church Street school lot from Theodore H. Lutz for $600. The land was bought so that they had a location in the event they could not find rooms.
In March of 1950, the American Legion offered to sub-let their rooms to the Masons. The Legion would use the second floor and basement, and the Masons would use the first floor. Also under the proposed agreement was that the Legion and Masons would each have independent rooms, as well as a shared recreation room, although the Legion would be able to use the Masons’ rooms when convenient for the Legion; that the M.T.A. would maintain 60% and Legion 40%, and that a building committee of 6 from the Legion and 3 from the M.T.A. would govern the building, with the lease lasting for at least 10 years. The members of the Granville Lodge rejected the proposal.
The Tatko brothers wanted to increase the Masons’ rental to $55. The lodge voted to accept the increase.
In January of 1956, the lodge voted to change the name of the Granville High Twelve Club to the Fellowcraft Club. This was because there were no other High Twelve Clubs in the Northeast, and that their only connection to the head organization in the Midwest was the annual dues.
In November of 1957, it was reported that there was consideration to take pledges towards building a Temple on the Church Street lot. In April of 1959, Russell McLaud of the M.T.A. reported on the plans and cost of the proposed Temple. The complete cost would be $32,000, and after all things were finished to satisfaction, the total cost of making the property the Temple would be about $40,000.
Dr. W.S. Bennett wanted a new Temple but thought the cost may pass $50,000 before the project’s completion, and that it would cost more than $3,000 annually to maintain the building. He suggested acquiring the E.R. Norton residence on West Main Street for a lodge building; he estimated that it would cost the M.T.A. only $15,000 to convert the building to a Temple.
Talks with Mrs. Fred Hewitt, who resided in the Norton house, made little progress. At an early meeting between Mrs. Hewitt and Morris Rote-Rosen resulted in a $10,000 price, and a condition that the house not be turned over to the Masons until a year after her passing. A later conversation resulted in a reduction to $5,000, with the earlier restriction not mentioned. Rote-Rosen informed Mrs. Hewitt that the buying the building would be up to the lodge.
A special meeting was called, with all the Granville Masonic bodies, which concluded with an approving vote to offer Mrs. Fred Hewitt the $5,000 for the house. In the meantime, however, she passed away. Her daughters came to Granville in the fall of 1959, to determine what items could be auctioned, as well as to see if the lodge had taken any action towards purchasing the building.
In September 1959, the daughters of the late Mrs. Hewitt wanted to talk to Morris Rote-Rosen about the building. The daughters were informed that he had no authority to act for the lodge but could talk and make reports. To make sure Rote-Rosen wouldn’t be made to make commitments, Henry J.W. Vanderminden Jr. was asked to accompany him to meet the Hewitt daughters.
The Hewitt daughters told Rote-Rosen and Vanderminden that they wanted to dispose of the building, offering the price the lodge had intended to offer Mrs. Hewitt. Rote-Rosen said they would report back to the lodge. During the conversation, Rote-Rosen proposed the building be memorialized as the Norton-Hewitt Masonic Temple, noting that Fred Hewitt and Eugene Norton were both prominent and outstanding citizens in Granville, involved in the community and with the Masons.
Another special meeting was called to hear the report from the above Hewitt meeting. The lodge voted in favor of buying the building. As soon as the deed of the Norton building was in the Masonic Temple Association’s possession in October 1959, a special meeting was called to organize fund raising for the Norton-Hewitt Memorial Masonic Temple. Soliciting was begun, and many individuals and groups donated.
The June 1960 meeting was the last to be held in the Norton building on Main Street. The Masons met in the Norton-Hewitt Memorial Masonic Temple for the first time at the September 1960 meeting; the work to convert and renovate the house had not been completed.
The Norton-Hewitt Memorial Masonic Temple was dedicated Sep. 9, 1961. The ceremonies began in the lodge meeting room, after which a plaque was dedicated outside. A dinner was held in the Temple dining room; 210 attended. A concert was given by the Granville Band at the Granville High School auditorium. Several spoke at the event, including lodge master James L. Barnard, and Morris Rote-Rosen gave retrospective and historical remarks relating to the lodge and location. Ernest Morris gave two vocal solos, and Rev. Paul Wagner gave the benediction. There was a reception in the high school gymnasium, after which the Grand Master and the other Grand Lodge officers stood and shook hands with visitors.
The meeting schedule, unchanged since 1866, was changed to the first and third Thursdays of every month, starting February 1973. In late 1981, the meeting schedule reverted to Wednesdays.
The Granville Lodge celebrated its 200th anniversary on Dec. 7, 1996, at an event held at the Granville High School. A chicken dinner was given, followed by a concert featuring the Granville High School Band and the a cappella singing group Cantare.
As early as 1994, the lodge was considering the E.R. Norton house to be too large for the lodge and began making plans to sell the building. Committees began looking into finding a new location. In July of 1999, the lodge put the building on the market. The building immediately attracted interest of those with an affinity for Victorian architecture and preservation.
The house was bought by Nat Parker in February of 2000, and the Masons met in the building through May. Meetings were then held at the Granville Baptist Church and the Granville Methodist Church until a new Temple was constructed.
Suitable land in the Granville area was looked over and considered for the location of a new Temple. In June of 2000, two parcels were purchased from John Tougher, developer of the River Valley Homestead subdivision off North Street. These were 97 North Street and an unnumbered Slate Valley Drive parcel.
Construction began on the new Temple in the fall of 2002. The concrete slab was poured in November. The building was finished in the fall of 2003 and named the Slate Valley Masonic Center. An open house was held Oct. 12, 2003.
This year, the Granville Lodge celebrates its 225th anniversary. A program is planned for Saturday, Aug. 7, at the Slate Valley Masonic Center on North Street. The event will begin at 11 a.m., with a rededication ceremony led by Grand Master William M. Sardone, and a sealing of a time capsule.
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