The Enid Masonic Temple, also known as the Knox Building, is located in Garfield County, Oklahoma

Garfield County, Oklahoma

Garfield County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma named after President James A. Garfield. As of 2010, the population was 60,580. Enid is the county seat and largest city within Garfield County...

 in the city of Enid

Enid, Oklahoma

Enid is a city in Garfield County, Oklahoma, United States. In 2010, the population was 49,379, making it the ninth largest city in Oklahoma. It is the county seat of Garfield County. Enid was founded during the opening of the Cherokee Outlet in the Land Run of 1893, and is named after Enid, a...

. It is also the home of the Enid Symphony Center, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 since 1984. The Italian Renaissance Revival  building is also located within the Enid Downtown Historic District

Enid Downtown Historic District

The Enid Downtown Historic District is a , seven block district located in Enid, Oklahoma and listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2007...

 which became listed on the register in 2007.

History

The Enid Masonic Temple was constructed in the 1920s by the Garfield County Masons, Lodge #80. Lodge #80, now called the Enid Lodge, began as Lodge #19 in 1894. Garfield Lodge #501, started in 1961, occupies the building today.

The Knox Building

The building is also known as the Knox Building, named after oilman Charles Knox. Knox purchased the building during the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

. In the 1940s Charles Knox instituted a rent increase too steep for the masons, and the building was closed, causing a forty year period of vacancy. In 1984 the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Local legend claims that the Knox Building is haunted by an elevator repairman named George, who had fallen to his death in the elevator shaft.

Enid Symphony Center

Formed in 1905, the Enid Symphony Orchestra is the oldest in the state of Oklahoma

Oklahoma

Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...

. Under the leadership of Symphony director Doug Newell and the Enid Symphony Association, the fourth and fifth floors of the building were renovated in the 1990s at a cost of 3.2 million dollars. The renovations included the Enid Symphony Hall, a theatre hall with 1930s theatre seating, a lobby area with Egyptian decor, Jane Champlin Art Gallery, and the Eleanor Hoehn Hornbaker Banquet Hall. In addition to being the home of Enid's orchestra, the Gaslight Theatre

Gaslight Theatre

The Gaslight Theatre is a theatre troupe and venue in Enid, Oklahoma. Founded in 1966 as the Enid Community Theatre, the group stages productions of eight plays per year, including Shakespeare in the Park and dinner theatre...

also holds a yearly dinner theatre production at the Enid Symphony Center.