The History of Ellensburg Lodge #39 F&AM of Washington

This little blog is an attempt to gather and consolidate the historical information relating to the Lodge.  Mostly the members.  The Lodge is really the people, the building is termed the Masonic Temple.

The true website for Ellensburg #39 can be found here:  www.eburgmasons.com

 Here are a few other pictures of this historic building:

Knights Templar in front in 1909

This picture seems to have been taken in the 1960s

This picture seems to have been taken in the 1980s

Calling card........

This is a drawing of the first Masonic Temple in Ellensburg.

 It was on the corner of 4th and and Pine.  
It was completed in April of 1889 - just in time to

burn to the ground in the July 4th, 1889 fire that leveled most of Ellensburgh.

This picture is striking visually, of course, but if you know the background history it tells a more profound story.  

How did this group of 20 or so men get the money together to build a two story brick building, and how did they feel looking at the burnt-out shell?  

The fact that they built the building, and quickly rebuilt the current building speaks to the importance that these men placed on their masonic membership.

For a more detailed discussion of the history of the buildings the Lodge has called home, click here to go to the #39 website.

Ellensburg #39 Lodge Officer Installation photos - 1965 and 2015!

Separated by 50 years, the lodge looks very similar in these two photos..

That is by design, we staged the second photo, the actual installation of officers in the fall of 2014 to look as much like the picture taken in the fall of 1964 as possible.  The postures of the officers, the deacon's rod leaning in the doorway to the left and even the people having a conversation in the doorway.

We found the old photo in the Fred Breckon colletion.  What a jewel.

The Tyler's register from that installation ceremony still exists and a photo of it is below:

The register helps to figure out who the men in the photo are... and this was written on the back of the actual photo:

It seems strange, to me at least, that the first position from the left is blank.  That chair is usually occupied by the Brother to be installed as Master for the next year, and that person is in fact wearing the Master's Jewel of Office:

WB Jack Burrows - Master 1965.

Jack passed away a few years ago, but I did get to meet him and talk to him.  He maintained his membership after moving to Seattle and now and then drove over for a lodge meeting when the weather was favorable.

Jack is probably wearing the same officer's jewel that the current master wears.

One other thing that has not changed...  The Lodge Bible:

This is a recent photo of the title page of the Lodge Bible.  It was donated to the Lodge by Erich A. Brattkus - Master of the Lodge in 1950

The men seated in this photo, from left are Marc Thompson, Chris Beyer, Nick Henderson, Wayne Erickson, Patrick Stanton, Austin Marshall, Bob Johnson, Ron Graham, Tedd Hansen, Scott Randall and Andrew Caveness.

Barely visible in the doorway are Aaron Carlton (#39) and Kyle Nickolson (WM of CleElum #139)

Where did these pictures come from? Fred Breckon

Where did all of these pictures come from?  Well, the Lodge was very lucky to have a certain Fred Breckon as a member.

1960's or so

Here is a Bio of Fred,  From the Washington Rural Heritage Website:

"Fred L. Breckon was born on August 27, 1883 in Altamont, South Dakota Territory, but lived most of his young life in Salt Lake City, Utah where he attended the public schools. In 1902, he served with the National Guard and the Utah Light Artillery. While living in Salt Lake City, he married Edith Christy in 1912. Fred was a land surveyor and civil engineer beginning his career with the Utah Copper Company. He later moved to Idaho taking a variety of engineering and surveying positions. The family moved to Ellensburg, Washington in 1924 where he was employed by the Bureau of Reclamation conducting surveys for the High Line Irrigation Canal. In 1931, Fred became the City of Ellensburg city engineer from which he retired in 1946. He was a member of the First Christian Church and a 50-year member of the Masonic Lodge. He became interested in photography in 1906, and he continued throughout the rest of his life photographing people and places. Fred died in Ellensburg on March 2, 1971 at the age of 87 years. The Breckon Family donated thirteen albums of Fred Breckon’s unique Ellensburg and Kittitas Valley photographs to the Ellensburg Public Library in 1979."

on the left, I think.  1900s or so

We had known that Fred had a substantial collection of local photos and we were interested in this project.  (link to daily record article.)

Then one night in 2014 Bob Johnson didn't make it to the Lodge meeting.  This was problematic because Bob had always put out the Tyler's register - and probably had for 50 or so years.  No one else seems to know where it was.  During the search we discovered a photo album - seemingly from the 1960's - that had a huge collection of photos with the names and offices of members.

Most, but not all, of the pictures on this blog came from this book

What a jewel.  This photo album had many pictures that were available on the library website and many that weren't.  This gave a huge jump-start to the project.  For which we are grateful.  These pictures also show the members of the Lodge in their everyday-about-town or work settings.  This really adds to the feel of history.  It would not be nearly so interesting if everyone was in a top hat and collar holding a gavel.  It also adds a feel that this Lodge is a reflection of the community an made up of men of all walks of life meeting as equals.

Thanks Fred!

1940s - maybe

125th Anniversary article from the Daily Record - 2007

This ran in the Daily Record in 2007

Here is a picture of so some of the work that was done to the Temple Building in preparation for the 125th Anniversary.

it's a little difficult to tell, but I think the one on the left is Tedd Hansen and the one to his right is Nick Henderson

100th Anniversary article from the Daily Record - 1982

I have found pictures of many of the men mentioned in this article.  We also still have the history that John F Breckon wrote and a few of the commemorative plates they had made for the event.  Well, maybe more than a few....

Ellensburg Lodge #39 Installation of Officers 1965

This is a photo, most likely taken by Fred Breckon, of the installation in 1965.

The back of the photo lists these brothers as:

and here are the pages from the tyler's register from that night:

Ellensburg Masonic Temple article in the Daily Record 1975

I like how the "secret chamber" and its location is mention here.  A secret society who's building is on the national historic register, the phone number is in the phone book and now the "secret chamber" is described in the newspaper.  The really funny part is that the chamber they are describing is a storage closet, always was.  It was constructed to hold all of the robes and props for the several degrees.

We keep the actual secret chamber somewhere else.  Seriously, we do.  There are actually a couple of them that I can think of.

Ellensburg Masonic Temple Article - Daily Record 1982

This seems to be informative, but really a little confusing.  Were there three temples built in Ellensburg?  The 1888 one that burned, but it was on the corner of fourth and Pine.  And then the current one in the middle of the block on 6th
between Main and Pearl.   What was built midway between 4th and 5th Avenues on Main?  Or was this just a misquote?