117-119 S MAIN ST

117-119 S MAIN ST

Dane

Oregon

1898

1979

social recreational/fraternal hall

Queen Anne

Cream Brick

No

A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, State Historic Preservation Office. The construction of this lodge building coincided with the golden age of Freemasonry in Wisconsin. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, fraternal lodges included among their members the businessmen and professionals who made up the local elite. Membership in certain lodges helped establish a man's status, and some, such as the Masons’, were more prestigious than others, in part because here community leaders made business deals and forged political alliances. After a fire destroyed the hall used by several of Oregon’s fraternal organizations, the Masons erected this exuberant cream-and red-brick building, which also served the Order of the Eastern Star, the Knights of Pythias, and the Women’s' Relief Corps. Above the second-story windows, the Masonic emblem of compass and square appears at the center of a red sandstone medallion framed in red brick. Fine details, including the red-brick arcade at the roof parapet and the pointed ogee-arched window heads, lend an eclectic Romanesque and Moorish flavor to this vernacular commercial facade. The building retains its original, cast-iron storefront, where the Prichard and Cusick hardware store displayed its wares. The interior, too, has kept its historic appearance, including its pressed-metal ceiling embellished with garlands and geometric motifs. POLYCHROME BRICKWORK. ARCHED WINDOWS W/KEYSTONES. ORIGINAL IRON FRONT. MASONIC DEVICE ON FRONT.

Wisconsin State Journal, 8/21/1994, p. 5J. “Architecture/History Survey. WHS project number 08-0176/DA. 2007. Prepared by Carol Lohry Cartwright. Buildings of Wisconsin manuscript.

Oregon Masonic Lodge

Jun 18, 1992

May 06, 1992