Mason Temple Waxahachie, Texas

My Grandfather J. O. Bailey was a Mason. My father says he was a 32nd degree. I don't know enough about Masons to know if that is possible or what it means. I have heard that my Grandfather had told someone he thought it was silly. Maybe that is why he never got to 33 degree? :) I remember he had their symbol on his gravestone and they did something at his service. I do know that degrees have something to do about ranking. I know that many of our our forefathers were really involved in the Masons and it seems to have been influential in politics and business. Legend has it that Santa Anna was spared his life when he flashed a secret Mason hand sign to Sam Houston. Both Masons.

I've never been in a secret society except in fourth grade when I started a Women Haters Club. Our only rules was not to fraternize with the enemy. When my friend Bubba dissented by falling in love with Anita, it all fell apart. Some kids also at this time started a game where if you caught a girl you got to kiss her. I was a staunch member of my club and didn't participate. Man I was a dummy! But the Principle intervened and the game soon ended.


Anyway, Part of the Boze Mitchell McKibbin Funeral Home at 511 W Main St, Waxahachie next to the Library is a Mason Temple. Before that the Mason's met in the top floor where the Ellis County Museum is now. Built 1889.

According to the recollection of Shannon Simpson, director of Ellis County Museum, before that it was next to the Library but was a small building. So they probably already owned the land that the Temple was built on. They built the Temple at 511 w main st in 1925. "The Masonic Lodge building on Main Street was constructed around 1925. The Masons moved from the site of the Ellis County Museum to this structure around that time. When the Depression hit in 1929, the Lodge had to sell the bottom floor of the structure to make ends meet. The bottom portion has been a funeral home
since that time." According to the KBEC radio spot the Boze Mitchell McKibbin Funeral Home has been around since 1867 (if I remember right.) So it must have moved around. It seems to be common that a Mason Lodge will build a multiple story building and rent the lower floors to fund their Lodge. The Historical Marker at the Ellis County Museum tells about the different business' that were in the Lodge building.

Here are some pics of the Mason Temple at the funeral Home. Notice the peep hole. There was a closet upstairs where the doors had no handles on the inside. There is apparently some ancient breakers in the breaker box and the window for a projector for whatever movie they were watching. One can only imagine. There is a closet space under the stairs like where Harry Potter stayed for a while. There is suppose to be a trap door somewhere that is used for a test. They drop a guy down into this trap door and leave him there for a certain amount of time that symbolizes the 40 days in the cave.