Have you as a Master Mason ever wondered about joining the Scottish Rite? Good News!
The Portland Valley Reunion and New Member Initiation this fall is being held on Friday November 2nd & Saturday November 3rd, 2018.
The Scottish Rite in Oregon began in Portland in 1870 headed by the first Sovereign Grand Inspector General, John C. Ainsworth, 33°, who has been followed by eleven other Honorable Masons holding that office up to the present S.G.I.G. Illustrious Brother Gary Kuney, 33º Active, appointed in 2009.
The Scottish Rite is often called the College of Masonry and this Fall we will be having a Class of new Candidates to join us in the quest for further Masonic Light. The ritual of the Scottish Rite comprises twenty-nine degrees, the fourth through the thirty-second, each of which, in the dramatic form of a vaudeville era Shakespearean style moral play, presents lessons of high purpose developing the moral character of the individual.
The theater here was built expressly for these degree presentations. Our Temple in the Historic Goose Hollow Neighborhood is the first building exclusively designed and built for the Scottish Rite Degrees and was used as a model for other Scottish Rite buildings throughout the world. It was the great architectural vision of Brother Richard H Martin, Jr, 33º who designed several other Fraternal Buildings in downtown. It is unique in still having over ninety hand painted stage drops available for the degree presentations. They were painted in the early 1900’s and are known for their outstanding perspective. The drops and fly system accompanying them are some of the best preserved in the country of their type and age. Our Temple along with being the last vaudeville era stage still in active use in Oregon, is also the oldest building in downtown Portland still occupied by its original inhabitants, the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry.
Ask your local Blue Lodge Scottish Rite member for a petition!