Location: Binghamton, NY
Status: Abandoned as of Oct. 2023
On the corner of Main and Murray St. in Downtown Binghamton stands on of the most unique buildings in the Southern Tier. Surrounded by different businesses like a gas station across the street and a dollar store next door, it stands out with its distinctive architecture and mystery; the mystery being what it was used for in the past. I remembered seeing this building as a kid and wondered ‘What’s that building for?’ since it seemed to have not been used in a long time. Turns out, not only was this structure used as a temple for the local Free Masons long ago, but it also hasn’t been used in decades. Why was this structure left behind? Who were these ‘Masons’ and what did they use this building for? These questions and more will be answered as we take a look behind the remains of the Binghamton Masonic Temple.
Before I tell you the story behind this structure, I think it would be best to give you a background on the beliefs behind Free Masonry if you didn’t know about it already. Freemasonry (Those who share a belief in the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of mankind) is the oldest fraternal organization in the world dating back to over 600 years ago. It is said Masonry is “not a political society nor is it a religious one either. However, it requires of all its postulants and expressed belief in one ever-loving and true god, but it has nothing to do with creeds.” In short, Freemasonry is all about brotherhood and helping out others in times of need and can be found all over the world in various forms. It first appeared in New York State after the Provincial Grand Lodge in the United Kingdom was closed by several lodge representatives 11 years prior. Shortly after that, the Grand Lodge of New York was opened and the state was split into 3 districts in 1814. Broome County would be included in the 4th district in 1855 as the state by this point was being split into 10 different districts.
John Patterson, a General and the First County Judge, was deemed the first Grand Master of the county and meetings for the Free Masons were hosted at Joshua Whitney’s log cabin. Whitney was in charge of the local Post Office and was also the supervisor for the Town of Union. Meetings were moved to this location after the lodge was moved to the then Village of Binghamton from Tioga County since the population in Binghamton was larger than their pervious location. With this, the lodge was renamed from The Tioga Lodge to The Binghamton Lodge in 1818. As the organization grew, meetings were taken place around town in different buildings until a Masonic Temple was built on Chenango St. in 1898. This served as the group's headquarters until it was destroyed in a fire in 1919. Luckily, the local Knights of Columbus offered the organization use of their clubhouse at No. 247 Washington St. until the new temple was built at the corner of Murray and Main St. in 1922.
Early photo of the Binghamton Masonic Temple at the corner of Murray and Main St.
The Masonic Temple was used in many different ways throughout the years it was open. The structure was designed for holding large events like theatrical productions, concerts, and many more. The building also contained3 locally made Beman pipe organs, an auditorium, a stage, a grand ballroom, and more. When not in use by the Masons, it was made available to other organizations. The lodge hosted many different acts throughout the years, some of the most notable being various touring Broadway shows in the 1950s and The Tri-Cities Opera during the 1960s and 1970s. The Tri-Cities Opera performed so much here back in the day that this was considered their home. During the later years, the stage in the theater was rented for concerts and other performances while dances were held in the ballroom. This occurred until things started changing for the lodge in the coming decade.
The theater, circa 1950s.
Memberships for the Binghamton Lodge started declining in the 1980s for unknown reasons. Because of this, a plan was made to convert the upper floors of the temple into senior housing. Construction began but was halted in 1990 due to low funding. Soon after, the lodge moved out of the temple and the project was abandoned. In late 2000, the structure was sold to a development group from Florida with hopes of turning it into student housing for the local Binghamton University students since it was already partly converted years earlier. The BU Administration announced the following year that the plan was in its final stages and not only would there be apartments for the students, but also a common area within the building that was large enough to fit a basketball court. Despite this plan being near completion, construction stopped and the project was abandoned. This was one of the attempts of renovating this structure since 1990 as another party had a similar idea to the Floridan development group with making the temple into a housing complex, but those plans didn’t go through either.
As of July of 2022, the former Masonic Temple has been under construction since earlier in the year. The current owner had plans on renovating the building into a commercial space on the bottom floor with housing being on the upper floors. Unfortunately, like it has happened in the past, this idea has been scrapped and the owner of the building plans on trying to sell the former temple.
The former Masonic Temple is currently fenced off as construction takes place.
The Binghamton Masonic Temple has been in the center of the city for many decades. Once used by many in the community, it now sits at the corner as time goes on. Hopefully new life will come to this noticeable structure, but it's hard to tell since it hasn’t been used in over 30 years.
Although I was unable to explore the interior of this building, Broome County Historian Roger Luther was kind enough to provide me a link to photos he took of the inside of the building in 2008, 2014, and 2016 respectively. Here are a few of those photos and if you wanted to check out more, here is the link to the website: http://nyslandmarks.com/masonic
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