Centuries of history imbued in downtown Masonic Temple
About 1,000 people a month are in and out of the Masonic Temple at 346 Main Street in Butler, but only a few of them cross paths with one another.
Every day is different in the temple, which has hosted meetings for Butler County-based Masonic organizations since it was constructed from 1909 to 1911. The DeMolay, Job’s Daughters, Rainbow and Squires conduct meetings in the building, and while thousands of people have been part of the local chapters, there are still many local residents who don’t know what the building holds.
Joyce Rauschenberger, an adviser for some of the youth groups that meet in the temple, said the building has been maintained for over 100 years by its membership, making its history personal for some.
“There is a plethora of organizations that all share this building and meet on different days,” Rauschenberger said. “It's not a museum, not a historical museum-type place where you can take a tour, but we all protect the building and keep it secure and the items in there.”
Numerous fraternal organizations are housed under the Masonic umbrella, but in Butler County, there are six subgroups and a few youth groups that operate in the region. They include the Butler Lodge, the Lorraine Chapter and the William H. Miller Lodge. Also operating in the region are youth organizations DeMolay, an organization for young men ages 12 to 21; Job’s Daughters, for young women age 10 to 20; and Rainbow, which is for young women ages 11 to 20.
The Masonic organizations, the Lorraine Chapter and the Butler Lodge, sponsor the youth organizations, according to Ed Fair, a board member for Butler DeMolay.
The Masonic organizations are based on traditions practiced by 13th century stonemasons, and lodges have existed in the U.S. since the early 1700s, according to Curt Rauschenberger, Joyce Rauschenberger’s husband and another adviser for several Masonic youth organizations. The traditions of the early architects have been molded into symbols that represent values of service and community.
“There are many people who join because of the history and the tradition,” Curt Rauschenberger said. “You take all the tools of a physical mason and what they used, and they give symbolic meaning to it. The square and compass represent that there are limits and boundaries involved in your life ... There is tons of history in here.”
Butler County has different lodges because, according to Joyce Rauschenberger, so many people wanted to be officers in the early days that independent groups established their own chapter so they could accomplish that goal. For a time, there was a group called Victory Lodge that operated in the county, but it merged with Butler Lodge around 2018, according to Joyce Rauschenberger.
“When someone decides they want to be a Freemason, they can choose one because that is where all their buddies are,“ she said. ”They join the one that meets on a night that is convenient for them.“
And while each separate organization has a chain of command that goes to an international level, every chapter has its own independent leadership.
“There is a Masonic association that has representatives from lodges on it,” Curt Rauschenberger said. “They collect money from all the groups that meet here as rent, and they use that to pay the bills and upkeep.”
Additionally, some people are part of several groups. Several members, such as the Rauschenbergers, are involved with multiple groups because they can offer different kinds of civic engagement for members.
“Some people are affiliated with several groups,” Joyce Rauschenberger said. “If you added up members of each organization it would be about 1,000 people.”
Although membership with Masonic organizations is a lifelong engagement, Dennis Rickard, who joined DeMolay in 1963, said the number of active members in the county has dwindled.
Isaac Holtzer, who joined DeMolay in 2008, said the dwindling interest in the Masons could be because of the high availability of other activities.
“When DeMolay was in its prime, there were a lot more people,” Holtzer said. “Now there are a lot more options for things to do, so they might not get involved with DeMolay.”
However, with the recent founding of the William C. Graham Manor Squires, which is a Masonic organization for boys ages 9 to 12, Joyce Rauschenberger has hope that more youths will get involved in the coming years. She said parents may be interested in getting their children involved, because of what they can learn through the groups.
“With the youth groups, we are trying to teach the kids to be better adults for tomorrow,” she said. “I'm hoping we can get membership up for Squires to at least a dozen kids.”
The history of Masonry in Butler County has affected many people over the years, either through being involved with one of them or through feeling the effects of the organizations’ projects. The current leaders, however, said many people are still unaware of what Masons really do.
Some procedures and practices are meant only for members, but Joyce Rauschenberger said there are things the Masons do that could attract people to join.
