The Masonic Widows and Orphans Home, located in Louisville

Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...

 (St. Matthews

St. Matthews, Kentucky

St. Matthews is the 20th largest city in Kentucky, United States and is a prominent suburb of Louisville. It is located 8 miles east of downtown Louisville in Jefferson County. It is one of the state's major shopping areas, being home to second and fifth largest malls in Kentucky St. Matthews is...

), Kentucky

Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

, is a historic building 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...

. It was built by the Grand Lodge of Kentucky

Grand Lodge of Kentucky

The Grand Lodge of Kentucky is one of two state organizations that supervise Masonic lodges in the state of Kentucky. It was established in 1800....

 to support the widows and orphans of Master Masons, but now is open to all senior citizens.

History

The Masonic Widows' and Orphans' Home was formed in 1867 due to a discussion on November 23, 1866 pondering what to do with the number of widows and orphans of Masons caused by the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

; the 1867 founding makes Kentucky's Masonic Widows and Orphans Home the oldest Masonic home in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

. It started when a group of Louisville Freemasons on November 23, 1866 gathered with an intention of creating such a home. The Kentucky General Assembly chartered the organization in January 1867. The initial starting funds for starting the home was $30,000, with additional funds totaling $20,000 and $12,000 separately. The cornerstone of the original home, located north of Avery Street between First and Second Street in what was previously a cornfield

Maize

Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...

, was laid in 1869, with the first resident admitted on April 7, 1871. The building was completed in 1873. A tornado on June 2, 1875, damaged the roof and center walls of the original building, but no one was injured.

World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and the Spanish influenza outbreak following the war caused overcrowding. Thus, the decision was made to construct a larger orphan's home than the original in Louisville, to the present-day location in Louisville/St. Matthews on Frankfort Avenue, at the cost of $94,100,000. Construction began in 1925 on the 176 acre (0.71224736 km²) location, and the residents moved to it on August 15, 1927. The Louisville Courier-Journal called it "Little City Beautiful". The largest concentration of orphans at the home was 632 in 1930. The last orphan left in 1989, resulting in the home being solely for senior care.

Modern era

Most of the buildings established at the campus are still in existence. The Grand Lodge of Kentucky has its offices at the location. Until the orphans were eventually taught in public schools, originally their education was on the campus, with a cannery, farm operation, print shop, sewing room, and shoe shop there to teach the orphans a trade to support themselves in their adulthood. The St. Johns Day League Infirmary took care of sick residents. Once Kentucky state laws forbid using crops grown on the farm to feed the residents, the farm operations were sold off in 1988. The Home now accepts residents who are not related to Masons. In 2009 construction will begin on the property for the Kosair Charities Pediatric Day Care Center that is expected to open in 2010.

There was another Masonic orphanage in Louisville area, established across the Ohio River

Ohio River

The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...

 in Port Fulton, Indiana

Port Fulton, Indiana

Port Fulton was a town located two miles up the river from Louisville, within present-day Jeffersonville, Indiana. At its height it stretched from the Ohio River to modern-day 10th Street, and from Crestview to Jefferson/Main Streets....

 (now part of Jeffersonville, Indiana

Jeffersonville, Indiana

Jeffersonville is a city in Clark County, Indiana, along the Ohio River. Locally, the city is often referred to by the abbreviated name Jeff. It is directly across the Ohio River to the north of Louisville, Kentucky along I-65. The population was 44,953 at the 2010 census...

), on the grounds of the former Jefferson General Hospital

Jefferson General Hospital

Jefferson General Hospital was the third-largest hospital during the American Civil War, located at Port Fulton, Indiana and was active between February 21, 1864 and December 1866. The land was owned by U.S Senator from Indiana Jesse D. Bright. Bright was sympathetic to the Confederates, and was...

. It also ran out of orphans around the year 1990, and the grounds were used to construct a newer Masonic temple for the local lodges and Order of the Eastern Star

Order of the Eastern Star

The Order of the Eastern Star is a fraternal organization that both men and women can join. It was established in 1850 by Rob Morris, a lawyer and educator from Boston, Massachusetts, who had been an official with the Freemasons. It is based on teachings from the Bible, but is open to people of all...

chapters.