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Articles from
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The Traveling Man
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How’s your US geography?
What midwest city was settled by Freemasons in the 1850s and named Masonic Grove, then Shibboleth, then Masonville, before receiving its current (Masonic) name?

Mason City IA
First settlement 1853: Masonic Grove, named in honor of the Masonic order by settlers John Long and John Bilford from Illinois.
Expanded the same year and renamed Shibboleth.
John Long had sent for his family to join him, but his son, Mason Long, died en route. John Long now renamed the town in honor of his son, calling it Masonville.  …

When the first post office was erected, there were already two towns in Iowa named Masonville, and so the name of the town was changed again to Mason City, which became incorporated in 1870, electing its first mayor by the name of Darius B Mason! (Who but DB Mason?)

Utilizing its natural resources and its position on the Winnebago River, Mason City by 1912 was producing more brick and tile and more Portland cement than any city in the world. The prosperous magnates of the city now needed fancy houses, and in 1907, architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed some world-famous buildings: the Stockman House (1908), the City National Bank building (1910), and the only remaining Wright hotel in the world, The Park Inn Hotel (1910).


The Stockman House in Mason City.
Easily recognizable as a Frank Lloyd Wright House by its overhanging eaves, and the upper windows grouped and tucked under the eaves (to keep away cowans and eavesdroppers?)
A radical design for 1908!

More at:
http://www.wrightiniowa.com

 

In 1951, Bro Meredith Willson began work on a musical, set in Mason City (but referred to as River City)


The story is about a salesman trying to convince the citizens to start a boys' band – a very philanthropic, Masonic kind of story. Warner Brothers bought the movie rights and in 1962 "The Music Man" was
launched. Mason City now has a Music Man Square, and the city hosts the annual Mason City Band Festival.

Bro Meredith Willson served as a Major in WWII.
 

From Rural Lodge Newsletter 9
19 January 2006



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