Boulder Masonic Stained Glass Windows
On the very, very cold morning of April 5th 1945 the Boulder Masonic Temple, that was built in 1895 and located on the southwest corner of 14th and Pearl streets in Boulder Colorado, burned to the ground. It was mentioned in the newspaper after the fire that the fire was never contained but burned its self out after running out of things to burn. It was the worst fire disaster in Boulder history up to that time.
This was a great loss as this building cost $65,000 to build in 1895, and had a Lodge room that was beautifully decorated with murals, solid wood paneling, jacquard woven carpet, fine furnishings, and several stained glass windows that were imported from England. (Importing items from other countries was a very rare and costly thing back then.)
After the fire it was discovered that two of the stained glass windows in the lodge room had somehow survived, but barely. Apparently a couple of brethren took it upon themselves to remove and save these windows, no doubt, with the intention of having them repaired and restored. They would have required the help of the demolition crew to retrieve these windows as the there was no longer a floor to stand on or set a ladder on. (The lodge room was on the second floor.) The only thing left of the building was the brick and stone outer shell and the warped I-beam work that supported the inner section of the upper floors. The building could not be rebuilt using the existing outer shell as the fire burned so hot that it damaged the mortar. The walls started collapsing a day or two after the fire was put out.
In 1950 the current Masonic Temple building, located on the northwest corner of Broadway and Pine in Boulder, was completed. (Just s few blocks from the former building site.) The windows were placed in what could be considered the attic of this building and left there for the next 50 years (Give or take a year.) Over time gravity slowly took its toll. The windows, which no longer had a window frame or support bracing to help keep them straight, slowly folded and sagged in a ball of lead came and glass. Sadly the windows were eventually placed in a box and moved outside to the corner of the lawn mower shed where they shared space with the lawn mower and garden tools for another 10 years. (Give or take a year.)
In the spring of 2007 a recent initiate, who a had assumed the position of Grounds Keeper, discovered
the windows in the corner of the lawn mower shed. This new Grounds Keeper also happened to be a stained glass artist
who jumped at the chance of restoring a stained glass window from the former Masonic Temple for the
price of the materials, so as to help decorate his Lodge.
