The Living Well Gallery features the Order of the Eastern Star, Masonic Youth Organizations, and the lives of the children of the Masonic Home. The gallery highlights the importance of education, both for the children of the Home and within the Fraternity itself.
The Living Well Gallery also features many of the important early leaders in the Masonic Home.
The Masonic Home placed a profound focus on education for the children living in the Home. Even in 1890 the children in the Home “fit themselves for the future” by graduating from one of only thirty high schools in the state. The Neighborhood Schools Display pays tribute to this by featuring the schools the children attended.
The instructional glass slides and projector on display date from the 1880s and 1890s. The slides, depicting Masonic symbols or group of symbols, were used in the lodges for Masonic instruction. The slide projector was initially lit with kerosene and later with electric bulbs.
Tuscan Lodge No. 360 followed the unusual practice of printing the brother’s warrant onto his leather apron. John R. Parson signed this apron in his capacity as Grand Secretary; he was Grand Master in 1892 and served as Grand Secretary for 17 years. MWB Parson was instrumental in raising funds to establish the Masonic Home.
During the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Masonic attendees recorded their name, fraternal jurisdiction, address, lodge or chapter name and number, rank within the fraternity and local addresses in this registry.
In 1969, the Order of the Eastern Star arranged a trip for the children in the Masonic Home to visit Washington D.C. and Philadelphia. During the visit to the Capitol, the children gave this DeMolay Paperweight to Missouri Sen. William Stuart Symington.
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