MASONIC TEMPLE.
This magnificent new home for the Masonic orders of Atchison is a three-story structure of re-inforced concrete fire-proof construction with basement. It is built of gray Brazil, Indiana, vitrified brick and trimmed with ocean colored terra cotta. The first floor is a store room and on the second floor there are a number of offices and the banquet hall with kitchen facilities. The third floor is used exclusively for Masonic purposes, and in the rear portion of the third floor is a mezzanine floor with fire-proof lockers. The lodge room is embellished with an ornamental plaster cornice and with Scagliola columns and pilasters. The ceiling is circular with a large dome, and the memorial room is finished with ornamental plastering in elaborate Egyptian design. The total cost of this building with furniture and equipment was close to $60,000.
Masonic Temple, Atchison, Kan.
CHAPTER XXII.
SOCIETIES AND LODGES.
ATCHISON COUNTY PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION—BENEVOLENT AND PROTECTIVE ORDER OF ELKS—FRATERNAL ORDER OF EAGLES—OTHER SECRET SOCIETIES—CATHOLIC SOCIETIES.
One of the strongest county organizations among the farmers is the Atchison County Protective Association. It had its origin in a vigilance committee which was organized at Good Intent and Shannon, in 1883. For three years this committee operated as a vigilance committee and was organized under the Central Protective Association, August 31, 1886, by William Conners, of Winthrop, Mo. L. P. Dubois, concerning whom a biographical sketch appears in another part of this history, was the first president of the Good Intent lodge, and W. H. Smith was the first secretary. Hon. T. J. Emlen, county treasurer of this county, was the first treasurer of Shannon Hill lodge, and J. I. Holmes was the first secretary.
The first work that was done by the consolidated lodges was in running down a thief who stole a team of horses from the late Rolla Streeper. Members of both lodges were taxed $10 each to defray the expense of the chase. J. H. Barry was sheriff of the county at that time and captured the thief in Nebraska.
Following this capture the lodges decided that the expense was too great to be borne by them alone and so the Atchison County Protective Association was formed in the spring of 1889. The first president was C. S. Prim, and the second president was Hon. W. T. Bland, third president was Elias Graves. W. H. Bush was the fourth president, and he held office for ten years and was one of the most popular, tactful and conscientious officials the association ever had. Will Dooley, of the Good Intent lodge, was president of the association in 1916, and no better man ever filled the position. The Hon. Edward Iverson, ex-county clerk, and now cashier of the Exchange State Bank, at Atchison, has been secretary of the association since 1901. The association has now a membership of 1,500 and with twenty-five lodges, and is affiliated with the Central Protective Association.