The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

WAITSBURG—Everyone in the Touchet Valley knows where to find Waitsburg Grocery. Some may not have realized that the building is the home of Masonic Lodge #16.

Waitsburg’s current lodge was constructed in 1913 for $26,000 after the original structure was lost to fire. Members rebuilt with a second floor for Masonic use, reserving the ground floor for a local business. For decades, that business has been Waitsburg Grocery, now owned and operated by Jamie Allen.

“That way, the lodge would have community support but also be able to serve the community with the local business,” says Skip Winchester, current “Worshipful Master” of the lodge. Equivalent to “President,” it is a traditional title of respect still used in Freemasonry - the world’s oldest fraternal and philanthropic organization.

It is widely believed that Freemasonry has its roots in 14th-century professional guilds that regulated the occupation of skilled builders. According to the Grand Lodge of Washington (GLW), modern Freemasonry began during the 17th and 18th centuries.

The first Grand Lodge was founded in England in 1717 during the Age of Enlightenment whereas Masonry became more philosophical, reflecting ideas such as religious tolerance, free thought, and moral improvement.

Social connection and preservation of historic ritual traditions have certainly played a part in its development. Today, Freemasonry characterizes itself as a diverse Brotherhood composed of men of “good moral character.” It is a secret society, meaning it is oath-bound and conceals at least some of its rituals, customs, or activities from the public, though not necessarily their membership or existence. Self-improvement and community service continue to be key values.

Many of America’s historic leaders were Freemasons, including George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Gerald Ford, and the astronaut Buzz Aldrin, to name a few.

“Freemasonry has always been religious in character, though it subscribes to no particular orthodoxy,” according to the “Encyclopedia Britannica.” Membership involves belief in a supreme being or “Great Architect of the Universe,” reflecting ancient occupational language. The Masons continue to keep their organization free of religious sectarianism, a characteristic that brought criticism from organized religions in the past.

“Two things we’re not allowed to talk about during meetings: religion and politics,” Winchester says.

Membership in fraternal organizations like the Masons has declined for many years, including Lodge #16.

“Many lodges have closed,” said Winchester, “typically merging with other lodges – as was the case a number of years ago when Dayton’s Masonic Lodge #26 merged with Waitsburg.”

The Order of the Eastern Star is an appendant group to the Masons, created in 1850 by Rob Morris of Kentucky for the fraternity’s female relatives. Waitsburg’s Chapter #9 began in 1889 and still has a few faithful members holding meetings at Waitsburg’s Main Street Lodge. The lodge also hosted the Rainbow Girls, a program for teenaged girls once active in Waitsburg. Leaders of the group came from the Eastern Star membership and had also met at the lodge, however the group is no longer active due to a lack of membership.

“People don’t like to join things like they did in previous generations,” says Waitsburg longtime resident Anita Baker, a longtime member of Eastern Star. Like the men’s lodge, numbers have been dwindling with the passing of older members, she says.

Winchester cites busier lives and entertainment options for the decline in participation, although Masonic lodges in bigger cities have seen some resurgence.

“There are 45 names on the roles for our lodge,” says Winchester, “but if we don’t have the minimum required number of members present to hold a meeting, we don’t hold a meeting.” Anyone can explore membership in a local lodge by speaking with a current member. This includes Waitsburg native, Scott Archer.

“I’ve been a member of the Waitsburg lodge since 1989,” said Archer, the group’s current secretary. “There were 130 members then. But what I liked about it was that everyone was on the same level. Whether you were the president of the country or a guy working on a sewer line, it didn’t matter. It was more about friendship and fellowship, becoming a better person and helping the community.”

In keeping with the importance of community service, the Waitsburg lodge supports an early childhood development program called Early Life Speech and Language (ELSL), a non-profit organization founded and supported in part by Masons. There are many ELSL clinics in Washington State, including a local office at 607 East Main Street in Walla Walla, providing diagnostic assessment and treatment of speech and language disorders for children with significant communication delays.

Lodge #16 has been committed to keeping a full-service grocery in Waitsburg.

“The Waitsburg Grocery is the most important reason for the Waitsburg lodge,” says Archer. “It pays for the insurance on the building. If it burned down, we’d have enough to pay for a new grocery store.