Damaged part of Lodge 57 under repair

By ROGER EMILE STOUFF
That stately old building near the center of downtown Franklin may go unnoticed by most locals.
Sometimes, that’s the way it happens: People who have lived in a place for most, if not all, of their lives, find the background becomes the visual equivalent of white noise.
Visitors, on the other hand, can often be found admiring its red façade and snapping photos.
It’s been around since the latter part of the nineteenth century. It was the first building in the city to receive electricity and electric ceiling fans.
When the bill for electrical service arrived at Franklin Masonic Lodge 57 F&AM, it was a whopping $1.60 or so for three months service. Electrical service was promptly discontinued because the Worshipful Master at the time thought the cost was outrageous. Perhaps the nearly $4 bill from Cumberland Telephone and Telegraph company had something to do with it, too.
In about 2010, lodge members began to notice issues with the left corner of the building, including cracks in the brickwork. Worshipful Master and past Master Ronnie Williams said members learned that it had been patched many times over the years, but water intrusion continued for as long as 60 years, which broke down the mortar between the bricks.
“All the traffic on Main Street, the cane tractors and trucks, might have kept packing the sand down, and that’s how we ended up with that bulge in the front,” Williams said.
By 2012, the lodge secured a forensic engineering study which verified what Williams and other members suspected.
The lodge has been raising funds to repair the historic old building. One of those was a brick adoption program. Anyone can buy a commemorative brick and dedicate it, right on the brick, to anyone as a memorial.
“We want to put the balcony back,” Williams said of long-term plans. “Then we’ll take the sidewalk up and redo it with brick walkway with a laser-engraved (Masonic) emblem” and the commemorative bricks.
Williams was clear that money raised for charities is never used for building maintenance. “It’s usually done by the brothers, comes out of their pockets,” he said.
During recent severe rains that last weeks on end, Williams said he noticed the brick corner had gotten worse.
Enter state Rep. Sam Jones and other area legislators.
They secured $20,000 in funding to help secure the building. It’s not enough to do it all, but it will provide a good start, Williams said.
Bricks continued to fall from the bulging area; Willians, who owns his own construction business, shored up the walls and windows. More was required when an engineer surveyed the site. “It’s a good thing,” he said. “With all this weather we’ve had…the front of it would probably be gone.”
The restoration of that section began last weekend. An architect and an engineer assessed the building’s more dire needs and gave advice along the process. Naquin Construction of Thibodaux agreed to serve as contractor after many others turned the job down.
“It took a specialist to do this,” lodge Secretary and past Master and Worshipful Master Blaise Smith said. “We’re talking one brick at a time, and four bricks thick. I wish we had a dollar for every time that man-lift went up and down.”
After removal of the bricks, they are cleaned and will be used again. There is a large steel beam on the façade that needs to be supported properly again as well.
“They can only lay so many bricks a day, then let them set, before they put in more,” Williams said.
Though chartered 168 years ago, construction began on the lodge in 1894 and it was finished the following year. On its 100th anniversary, more than 500 Masons visited to commemorate the occasion, so many that the lodge could not hold them all. They instead gathered at the Lagrange school gym.
The bottom floor had always been rented out to various businesses.
The balcony was removed in 1952 and never put back up, Smith said, though it’s visible in footage from the movie Easy Rider.
The Franklin lodge is a “three degree” lodge, but members in the past have advanced far higher in the Masonic organization. “We’re the oldest hosting lodge for higher degrees west of the Mississippi River,” Smith said. “Here’s the thing a lot of people don’t know about Masonry: if you’re a 33rd Degree Mason and you get kicked out of this lodge, you’re automatically out of everything. This is where it’s all at, this the body right here, the lodge is everything. There are only about 15 lodges older than Franklin right now, lots of them have gone away. Back in the day, this was something to do.”
Brick adoptions or donations can be made by contacting Williams or Smith, or can be mailed to Franklin Lodge 57, P.O. Box 346 in Franklin. Small bricks are $100, the larger bricks are $250. The contributions are tax-deductible and will be used only for the restoration.