A Newly Discovered Photo of the Corner Stone Ceremony For the Duncan Masonic Temple, 15 June 1912

A local Facebook group, You Know You’re From Duncan When…, has brought to our attention a photo of the Corner Stone ceremony for the Duncan Masonic Temple on 15 June 1912.

Temple Lodge No. 33 has another photo of this event but our Lodge Historian had not seen this photo (shown below) prior to today. We have added the photo to our webpage on the Duncan Masonic Temple.

Corner Stone Ceremony for the present day Duncan Masonic Temple, 15 June 1912. Mrs. Norcross' chicken coop is visible in the left rear.
Corner Stone Ceremony for the present day Duncan Masonic Temple, 15 June 1912. Mrs. Norcross’ chicken coop is visible in the left rear.

Temple Lodge No. 33 extends its thanks to Darold Stockford, of You Know You’re From Duncan When…, for bringing this photo to our attention. 

The photo is also interesting because it shows Mrs Norcross’ chicken coop in the left rear of of the photo. Mrs. Norcross owned the lot on which the Duncan Masonic Temple now stands as well as the adjacent lot to the north, on which she operated a store called the Bon Marche. At the rear of her store, on the adjacent lot to the south, she had a chicken coop.

When Temple Lodge No. 33 bought its present lot from Mrs. Norcross, she wanted to keep her chicken coop and the land it stood on. Temple Lodge No. 33 obliged her and purchased its present day lot with the exception of Mrs. Norcross’ chicken coop and the land it stood on.

The Duncan Masonic Temple was then built around Mrs. Norcross’ chicken coop.

Mrs. Norcross chicken coop is long gone but the rear of the Duncan Masonic Temple, facing the present day parking lot off Kenneth Street, still shows an indentation on the north west corner of the building where Mrs. Norcross’ chicken coop once stood.

Would you like to leave a comment or question about anything on this page?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *