Provenance of Paul Dean Lodge Furniture

Compiled by Gerald B. Nordling, P.M.

Paul Dean Lodge, A.F. & A.M. No. Easton, MA

When Paul Dean Lodge merged with Paul Revere Lodge of Brockton in 2004, the question arose as to what to do with the unique lodge furniture which had been in its possession since 1881. Brother Bill Johansen told of lodges in Bangor, Maine, which had experienced a devastating winter fire in January 2004. The property

Bangor Fire 2004

of all Masonic bodies that met there was a complete loss.  Contact was made with the lodges in Maine, and soon a representative came down to inspect our furniture and other items.  He reported back that it would be a wonderful gift to receive and recommended they accept Paul Dean's generous offer. That fall several of their members arrived with a truck and transported the furniture and other articles back to Bangor, where it was placed in storage until new facilities could be acquired.

Lodge Furniture

The furniture included fifteen chairs with red upholstered seats and backs. Each chair had on its headboard a replica of the proper implement of the office where it stood. There were also desks for the secretary and treasurer, three pedestal tables with marble tops for the Master and Warden's stations, and a beautiful altar with a red velvet top and kneeling pads around each side.  The altar was very ornate with filigree trim. A large wreath encircled the square and compasses logo. There were four sculptured rams heads on each corner. All the furniture was painted blue with silver accents.  Finally, after much work and planning, new Masonic quarters were ready in Bangor and Paul Dean’s furniture once again stood proudly in their beautifully refurbished facility, once the property of the Bangor Theological Seminary.

New Bangor Maine Lodges

A formal dedication and cornerstone laying ceremony was conducted by Grand Lodge of Maine officers on May 1, 2010. Several former Paul Dean members were in attendance, and were recognized by the Grand Master Most Worshipful Robert R. Landry. He spoke of the act of fraternal brotherhood shown by Paul Dean Lodge, by coming to the assistance of their fellow Masons. For this, the Paul Dean members representing their lodge were accorded the Grand Honors by all present.

Trowel, Summer 2005

After Paul Dean’s furniture was donated to the Bangor, Maine lodges, I started a search on the provenance of this unique, antique furniture. After searching through my rolodex member file which I had while Master in 1981 and Secretary for the next 5 years, I discovered that I was probably one of the few members still alive that might have any knowledge on this subject, and that was only what had been passed down orally to me and others through the years. The story told to me was that one of the Ames family had obtained the furniture from a lodge in New York that had closed, and he donated it to Paul Dean Lodge. Some said the Ames family had held a mortgage on the building where the lodge met, and acquired the furniture along with a foreclosure on the property. Thinking there must be a written record of these furnishings somewhere, I asked several members in Easton to peruse the old secretary books going back to 1881, when we first moved into the newly built Oakes Ames Memorial Hall Masonic apartments. The Oakes Ames Memorial Hall was erected by our Brother and Paul Dean member Oliver Ames (1831-1895) who served as Governor of Massachusetts (1887-1890), and his brother Oakes Angier Ames (1829-1899) in memory of their father Oakes Ames (1804-1873). Oakes Ames, President of the Ames Shovel Company, had also served as a Massachusetts congressman. In January 1865, President Abraham Lincoln asked Oakes Ames to be involved in the development of a transcontinental railroad. Oakes and his brother Oliver (1807-1877) provided excellent leadership and extensive finances for the building of the eastern portion of this railroad, the Union Pacific, and were credited with the successful completion of this arduous undertaking.

The building was designed by the noted architect (Bro.) Henry Hobson Richardson. In 1885, The American Architect and Building News, then the leading architectural journal in the country, published the findings of a survey to determine the ten best U.S. buildings.  Seventy-five architects responded, mentioning 175 buildings. Richardson’s Trinity Church in Boston was declared the best building in America, and Easton’s Oakes Ames Memorial Hall came in tenth.  Of the buildings selected, Richardson had designed five of them.  Oakes Ames' landscaping was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted of New York Central Park fame. The entire top floor was reserved and designed expressly for the Masonic apartments of Paul Dean Lodge. 


Richardson designed four other buildings in North Easton for the Ames family, namely, the Ames Free Library, the Old Colony Railroad Station, and also the Ames Gate Lodge and F. L. Ames Gardener’s Cottage, both located on the Ames Langwater Estate.

Found in the records of March 1903 was a report of the 35th anniversary celebration of the lodge, which gave a detailed history of the lodge from its beginning in 1867. Writing about the move into the new apartments in 1881 was found this first mention of the furnishings: “By the generosity of our late Brother Oliver Ames these apartments were beautifully decorated and furnished with furniture from a lodge room in Booths Theatre of New York, all without expense to us.” 

Also found was the original handwritten letter to the lodge from Brother Oliver Ames, informing them of his intentions.


The name “Booth’s Theatre” was the first real clue of this quest for information. Thanks to Bro. Thomas Savini, Director of the Masonic Library of Grand Lodge of New York, Google, and the internet, I discovered much information about the theatre, and the man Edwin Booth. (Bro.) Edwin Thomas Booth was a famous Shakespearean actor born in Maryland in 1833, son of the noted English actor Junius Brutus Booth. Edwin had brothers Junius Brutus Booth Jr., and the infamous (also Bro.) John Wilkes Booth, who were Shakespearean actors as well. In the 1850’s and early 60’s Edwin toured throughout America and the major capitals of Europe, performing Shakespeare. Theater historians consider him the greatest American actor and “Hamlet” of the 19th century. When the identity of the man who killed Abraham Lincoln became known, New York Lodge #330 issued a statement in support of their member, Brother Edwin Booth:

“On April 18th 1865, the attention of the lodge was called to the death of the President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, and by motion a committee was appointed to prepare and draft suitable resolutions respecting the death of the President. A committee was also appointed to prepare and send a letter of condolence and support to Bro. Edwin Booth of this lodge, upon the suspicion which has fallen on a relation of his in connection with the late National calamity.”

Booth’s reply stated, “Your fraternal and consoling letter has come to me at the hour of my greatest need. It is very comforting, amid the dreadful darkness which shrouds my present and my future...I thank you, brothers, for the great relief your cheering words convey. It has pleased God to afflict my family as none other was ever afflicted. The nature, manner and extent of the crime which has been laid at our door have crushed me to the very earth; my detestation and abhorrence of the act, in all its attributes, are inexpressible; my grief is unutterable, and were it not for the sympathy of friends such as you, it would be intolerable.”

Booth's Theatre      photo source:  Wikipedia

Following the assassination of President Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth, Edwin abandoned the stage for many months, disowning his brother and refusing to have his name spoken in his house. When he did return to the stage he again played the title role in Hamlet which eventually became his signature role. In 1868 we find that Edwin Booth, with “Masonic Observances” assisted in the laying of the cornerstone of a new building on the SE corner of 23rd Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan, to be called Booth’s Theatre. It was a four story structure with the theatre occupying the first three floors. It was lavishly adorned and had many innovative features. Among these were gas fired chandeliers and stage lights which were lit by an electric spark ignition system, so the whole theatre could be darkened from a remote location. The portion of the building fronting 6th Avenue was set aside for Masonic apartments. The theatre itself opened in 1869 but never became profitable, and the panic of 1873 led to the bankruptcy of the Booth Theatre building in 1874. The Ames brothers, as managers of the Oakes Ames Estate, became financially involved at that time, buying in at foreclosure. Edwin’s brother, Junius Brutus Booth, took over the theatre management, and a year later it passed out of the control of the Booth family to others, and finally closed in 1883.

Several lodges met at the Masonic apartments in the Booth Theatre building during the early seventies up until 1875, when a new Masonic Hall was constructed by the Grand Lodge of New York. This new building had many separate lodge rooms that were shared with the many lodges operating in the city at that time. Two of the lodges I found that did meet at Booth's Theatre building were St. John’s Lodge #1, and New York Lodge #330, of which Edwin Booth was a member. He never was an officer of the lodge, but I found an interesting quote by him telling of his love for the fraternity:

“In all my research and study, in all my close analysis of the masterpieces of Shakespeare, in my earnest determination to make those plays real on the mimic stage, I have never, and nowhere, met tragedy so real, so sublime, so magnificent as the legend of Hiram. It is substance without shadow—the manifest destiny of life which requires no picture and scarcely a word to make a lasting impression upon all who can understand. To be a Worshipful Master, and to throw my whole soul into that work, with the candidate for my audience and the Lodge for my stage, would be a greater personal distinction than to receive the plaudits of people in the theaters of the world.”

It was certain that he aspired to be Master of his lodge, but the demands of his profession did not allow him to serve in that capacity. I also found an interesting report of a special meeting of New York Lodge #330 held in 1874 to exemplify the Master Mason degree for the edification of a visiting Brother, His Royal Highness David Kalakaua, King of the Hawaiian islands, and a member of Le Progress Lodge No. 124 in Honolulu. After the degree was exemplified, the Bible on which George Washington had taken his oath of office on April 30, 1789 was displayed.

The Bible was the property of St. John’s Lodge #1 at that time, and is still one of their most treasured artifacts. The royal visitor asked that the book be opened at the page where Washington’s oath was administered. He took the book in both hands and kissed the page saying, “I thank God for this privilege.” The Bible was undoubtedly displayed on the altar at that time. Former Paul Dean Lodge members, and now the members of Bangor lodges can proudly say that they have knelt at the very altar which at one time displayed the George Washington Inaugural Bible.  In addition to George Washington, this Bible has also been used in the inauguration of Presidents Warren Harding in 1921, Dwight Eisenhower in 1953, Jimmy Carter in 1977 and George H. W. Bush in 1989.

I have not been able to determine who actually possessed the furniture before it was acquired by Bro. Oliver Ames. It was probably originally purchased by Booth himself to furnish the newly built Masonic apartments in his Theatre building. The four murals which are believed to have come with the furniture and later adorned the walls at Paul Dean’s Masonic quarters depict a porch with brazen pillars, a flight of winding stairs, the outer door of the middle chamber, and the inner door to the middle chamber of King Solomon’s temple.

These large murals (see scale in 1959 black and white photo Oakes Ames Memorial Hall), were hand painted on heavy canvas and were of museum quality, something that Booth could readily have had produced by those who designed and painted his elaborate scenery. Unfortunately, after being on the walls of Booth's Theatre for 5 or 6 years, on walls of Oakes Ames Memorial Hall for 78 years, and then on the walls of our subsequent Masonic quarters on Williams Street, No. Easton for 45 years, when removed, they were found to be unstable and unusable, the ravages of time having taken their toll.

Paul Dean Lodge also had a marble smooth ashlar, the face of which is approximately 5 inches by 12 inches and 4 inches thick, incised with the name St. Johns #1.  We can also assume this came with the furniture.

St. John’s Lodge #1 is the oldest lodge in New York and is still in existence today. If they had owned the furniture and would have left the furniture in place when they moved from the Booth’s Theatre building to the new Masonic Hall in 1877 is not known. Of course it was not “antique” at that time and might have been easily replaced. It was probably during this time frame (1877 to 1881) when Brother Oliver Ames acquired the furniture for our future use. The plans for the Memorial Hall were on the drawing board in 1878 and construction was commenced soon after.

The Masonic apartments were not only elegant in their furnishings, but exquisite in their decor. The ceiling included a painted, starry-decked heaven with striking symmetrical patterns. A large all-seeing eye hovered over the Master’s station in the east. Masonic emblems including the hourglass, scythe, anchor and ark, beehive and others were displayed on panels around the lodge room, where the walls meet the ceiling. All this decoration was surely hand painted by some truly celebrated artists. No expense was spared by Brother Ames to make this one of the most beautiful lodge rooms in the area. The Oakes Ames Memorial Hall building was officially dedicated in November, 1881, and the Masonic Apartments were publicly dedicated on November 22, 1881 by Most Worshipful Samuel A. Lawrence, Grand Master of Masons in Massachusetts, with many prominent Masons and citizens in attendance.

The many steps to the top floor of Ames Memorial Hall Masonic apartments eventually proved to be too much of a burden to the aged members of Paul Dean Lodge.  In 1959 the lodge purchased the former Lutheran Church building on Williams St.,  No. Easton. and after extensive renovations, in 1960 this became the new and final home of Paul Dean Lodge.

Much has been written on the life and death of John Wilkes Booth. It is well documented that 12 days after Lincoln’s assignation, Booth was tracked by a posse and found hiding in a barn in Virginia. To get him to come out, the barn was set on fire. Before he did come out however, one of the posse fired his rifle into the burning building, mortally wounding Booth who died later that day.

Of the many conspiracy theories which surfaced after the incident, one might be of interest to Masonry. The story told was when Booth was on the run after the assassination of President Lincoln, he was apprehended by one of his pursuers. By certain signs Booth found this man to be a brother Mason, and he prevailed on him to let him escape, which he did. Booth then supposedly traveled for many years throughout the southern and western states, using many aliases, and died in January, 1903 in Enid, Oklahoma under the name David E. George.

While some of this gathered information does not relate directly to the history of Paul Dean’s furniture, I found it of interest and hope readers will also. I had hoped to be able to have someone access old records of St. John’s #1 and New York Lodge #330 but this failed to materialize. Surely our furniture is unique, but it probably was produced in some quantity back in the 1800s.  It is quite possible some other lodge somewhere might also still have, or have had, this same style furniture in their lodge rooms. I welcome further research and communication regarding these very beautiful historic lodge furnishings.


You may contact the author, Gerald Nordling, at gnord26@gmail.com.