At the turn of the century three Kansas Citians, George McLanahan, Dr. Grant T. Johnson and Burr F. Augustine, sat around a little coal stove in a druggist's shop, talking and dreaming of a home for a Masonic Blue Lodge to be named Ivanhoe. A charter was granted by the Grand Lodge of the state and a cheerless little room over a drug store at 38th and Woodland was used for initial meetings in January of 1901. Dr. William F. Kun was instrumental in securing the charter from the Grand Lodge. Charter members were Burr F. Augustine, Frank X. Allen, Madison J. Bensen, John M. Jones, Jacob J. Jackson, George S. McLanahan, Harry M. Boyer, Leander Z. Burr, George H. Castle, D. J. McMillen, William Ruble, Alfred E. Suydam, John C. Chorn, Fred O. Cox, Grant T. Johnson, Edgar S. Van Patten and John E. Wagner. The lodge occupied several meeting rooms before ground was broken 20 years later for Ivanhoe Temple at Linwood and Park. The site has a frontage of 134 feet on Linwood and 202 feet on Park. (A clubhouse for the lodge in an old home occupied the south 60 feet of the property.) Walter Lovett, Kansas City architect and a devoted member of Ivanhoe Lodge, drew the plans for the temple of Greek Ionic design. The base of the building is Phoenix cut stone; the superstructure terra cotta and brick with a promenade tile roof. Concrete, steel and brick were used in the construction, with an object of safety, permanency and a minimum of upkeep. Burris Jenkins, minister and a member of the lodge, authored a 70-page book with full page sepia photographs, published in 1924 after the dedication. The beautiful book contains descriptions of rooms of the four floors, color schemes, sizes and details of the beautiful interior. Kansas City Star, March 3, 1973.
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