Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1911-06-01

Gift Of A. ". Wright to MaSOnS Of
Michigan Accepted
GRAND RAPIDS PUT UP FIGHT
But Action OF Grand Master Swift in Accepting
Offer Is indicated

OF the Grand Lodge of Masons which
recently concluded its annual meet
ing at Port Huron, is taken from the
Times-Herald of that city and will be
OF interest to many Of our readers
The article said in part zone of the
big propositions which has been be-
lore the Masonic Grand Lodge for
months and which has commanded the
attention Of every Mason in Michigan
was fought out to a successful issue
last night on the convention floor and
as a result the Masonic home will be
located at Alma This means that
the magnificent offer OF Ammi w.
Wright of Alma, to the Grand Lodge
is accepted The final vote which sus-
tained the committees report, after a
long and heated battle of words on
the convention floor also means that
the action Of Grand Master Swift in
accepting the deeds for the property
some months ago is vindicated. 1t
means that the Grand Lodge will have
absolute control of its home and it
further means that this body acquires
property for ST which conservative
estimate values at Sl5000O
"The history OF the Masonic Home
for its aged and dependent members
is complicated, but after months OF
/ discussion the matter has finally been
settled for all time and Port Huron
has the honor of being the scene
where the final battle was waged. The
original Masonic home was located
! at Grand Rapids 1t was erected by
the Masonic Home Association, an in
dependent corporation, and the Grand
Lodge had nothing whatever TO do
with its management.
| "The Masonic Home Association
found that it had a white elephant on
its hands and offered TO turn the prop
erty over to various Masonic organ
izations. The Grand Lodge, Com
mandery, Eastern Star and other Ma
/ sonic bodies contributed TO its sup
port, but the control Of the institu-
tion was vested in board of Is mem
| bers.
"On February Is, 1910, the Masonic
! Home, which was located at Grand
Rapids. was destroyed by fire and a
| temporary home was secured by using
club house at Reeds Lake The
/ Grand Lodge officials then decided to
/ take some action on securing a Ma
sonic home which would be under the
direct control of that body and Grand
Master Swift appointed the following
committee: Arthur NJ Hume, Owos-
so; John ]. Carton, Flint; Lou b.
/ Winsor Reed City; George A. Arm
strong, Adrian, and F. b. Stevens,
Detroit. The grand master was also
to work with this committee.
"The work OF this committee was to
take charge Of the operations looking
toward the securing OF a new home
and site and whatever details were
/ necessary TO insure a Masonic home
/ which would be controlled by the
Grand Lodge Shortly after the COM
mittee began its work it was learned
that the fine sanitarium at Alma,
which was owned by Amm Wright,
a wealthy man OF Adrian, could be Sc
cured as a home. The structure,
which has not paid as a financial in
vestment as a sanitarium, was admir-
ably adapted for such a home as the
Masons desired. The structure could
not be replaced for less than $780,
/ 600 and a conservative estimate Of its
value today is placed at $1jO,0OO Mr.
| Wright at first stated that he would
/ be willing to accept 5000 for the
property in case the Grand Lodge de-
sired to purchase it, but later made
it known that If the Grand Lodge
would accept the buildings and
grounds as a gift he would be pleased
to turn it over to them for their Ma
sonic home
"The committee and Grand Master
Swift accepted the property on be-
half of the Grand Lodge and Mr.
Wright was paid consideration OF
81. In the meantime the Grand Rap
ids Masons were fighting hard TO re-
tain the Masonic Home in that city
and began 10 contest the right OF the
committee to accept the property as
gift The matter dragged along for
months and when the Grand Lodge
convened in this city on Tuesday it
was known that one of the important
matters to be threshed out was the
adoption or rejection of the commit
tees report on accepting the Alma
Grand Rapids delegation, made a
fight against the adoption of the COM
mittee's report. Every delegate who
so desired was given an opportunity
to speak his mind and it was II
o'clock before the matter finally came
to vote.
"When the result was announced,