Missouri Life June 2023

MISSOURI MASONIC MUSEUM Columbia

Masonic lodge halls stand proudly in many Missouri towns, but the organization remains a mystery to many. The curators of the Missouri Masonic Museum at 6033 Masonic Drive in Columbia hope to change that with a state-of-the-art facility that tells the story of an organization that is older than this country. The story of Missouri’s Masonic organization, with its values of brotherly love, relief, and truth, is told in five galleries that connect through a grand, circular entry. Engaging exhibits, some with interactive features, fill the space. Visitors learn about the organization’s founders and leading members in this state and throughout the country. Familiar names include Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, Missouri’s first governor Alexander McNair, Senator Thomas Hart Benton, Harry S. Truman, and Eastern Star ladies auxiliary member Laura Ingalls Wilder. Other exhibits focus on the organization’s impact on local communities and their far-reaching charitable efforts. The building that houses the museum also serves as the organization’s statewide headquarters. The expansive, modern space is decorated with art glass windows that were once part of a chapel at the Masonic Home, a St. Louis facility that provided housing, support, and education for orphans and destitute children from the late 1800s until the 1980s, when it was closed

HALL OF WATERS Excelsior Springs

The Art Deco-style Hall of Waters at Excelsior Springs provides a history of the mineral waters whose healing promises were in fashion during the early 20th century. Revitalized as a tourist destination, the Hall has the distinction of being Missouri’s most ambitious federal works project. In addition to the Art Deco styling inside and out, the architecture incorporates water and water god motifs found in the Mayan culture. The Works Progress Administration, an employment program created during the Franklin Roosevelt administration, spent more than a million dollars in 1936 to build the site that originally included on-site pavilions and pagodas. At its peak, the spa drew hundreds at a time. Those seeking the healing properties of mineral waters sought solace in a polio pool and a competition-sized saltwater pool. Harry S. Truman and Al Capone were among the celebrated figures known to visit the spa. The two story solarium still showcases the world’s longest water bar, which used to serve a variety of locally sourced water (including soda, iron, calcium, and manganese waters), bottled and on tap. The Hall now serves as the community’s visitor center. A tour of one of the original baths in this National Historic Register site is part of a self

and the buildings razed. Museum.mohome.org

guided tour of the town’s history. VisitExcelsior.com/hall-of-waters

MISSOURI MASONIC HOME, KEVIN MORGAN

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