Masonic Lodge is a historic part of Plainfield

PLAINFIELD – A worn brown book at the Plainfield Masonic Lodge 536 building downtown lists the name of every 3rd Degree Mason of the village chapter.

From the first Master Mason John Willis in 1866 to a new member who signed the book last Wednesday, the book documents a part of Plainfield history.

Other artifacts inside the lodge mark the past of both the local Masons and the village, including a center podium that is cracked from years of aging and a wooden gavel.

“This gavel, it was made from the wood of Walker’s Mill, the first wooden mill in Plainfield,” said Kenneth Pennington, a member of the order since 1954 and one of the oldest Masons.

The Plainfield Masonic Lodge is a charter of the national Freemason fraternity. Several U.S. presidents, founding fathers and other famous people are noted members of the Freemasons, including George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Denver Broncos General Manager John Elway and civil rights leader Jesse Jackson.

The Masonic Lodge at 24050 W. Lockport St. is an iconic building with its turret and onion dome corner. The building houses commercial shops on the first floor, and the local Masonic order on the second and third floors.

It has been used by the Masons of Plainfield for the past 122 years.

Historic designation

The Plainfield Village Board approved an ordinance Oct. 20 designating the Masonic Lodge as a historic landmark.

“There was an outstanding bit of reconstruction done a few years ago,” Trustee Bill Lamb said of the building at a previous board meeting. “It’s a real asset to the town. It anchors one half our downtown. The [Plainfield Opera House] anchors the other. They’re really great examples of what Plainfield is.”

The lodge sits along a stretch of Plainfield’s historic downtown along Lockport Street, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places last year.

Several features of the building have historic value, according to village documents.

The building has been maintained and restored to how it looked when it was built in 1892 after the 1891 Plainfield fire.

The second level of the south facade was designed in the Queen Anne style and included a gable with a Gothic arch and the words “Masonic Block.” The turret and onion dome stands out from the rest of Lockport Street.

“It’s really a beautiful building,” Village Planner Michael Garrigan said.

Lodge history

The Plainfield Masons held a special meeting in September 1867 to create a charter organization.

The Masons met in an unidentified building north of Lockport between Des Plaines and Illinois streets. In 1891, a fire destroyed most of the buildings in that area, including the Masons’ meeting place.

Within a couple months, the organization hired Aurora-based architect John Edward Minott to design a building with retail spaces on the first floor and meeting spaces for the Masons on the second floor.

The building was completed Dec. 1, 1892, and the Masons started holding their meetings there. But it wasn’t until 1922 when the Plainfield Lodge bought the building for $10,000.

Several shops have called the Masonic Lodge home, including McMullen’s Dry Goods, Playing Thru, Hometown Furniture and Appliances, and Wylie & Whitley’s Busy Corner.

Plainfield Masons

Freemasons have a code of helping out each other, but are also philanthropic. The Plainfield Masons contribute to fundraisers and have helped out in disasters, including the 1990 Plainfield tornado and the 2013 Washington tornado.

Because of all the prominent, historic people who were or are Freemasons, the organization has a certain mystique behind its own history.

But Plainfield Mason John Harvey said Freemasons are equals at the lodge.

“This lodge, when you walk in here, you’re just your name,” he said. “There is no rank whatsoever.”

Michael Rife, the current master of the lodge, said the lodge accepts people of any religion or background.

“The only requirement is you need to be at least 18 years old and you need to believe in a supreme being,” Rife said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re Christian or Muslim or any other religion. You need to believe in a higher power.”

Other requirements to join the Plainfield Lodge are that the applicant needs to be an Illinois resident for at least six months, live a good moral and social life, can read and write English and be recommended by three members of the Grand Lodge of Illinois.