Origin of Wathena Lodge No.64

    A few miles north of Wathena on the highest bluff in the area along the Missouri River grew this large Oak tree, pictured above.  As there were no buildings in the town of Smithton and therefore no Lodge Room available, some of the first Masons in the Kansas Territory met and formed a Lodge under this tree in 1854.

   

    During meetings armed Brothers on horseback would ride the surrounding countryside to prevent eavesdropping and witnessing of the ritualistic work

 

    Members of Wathena Lodge No. 64 posing under the tree are, left to right: Br. Roy B. Carter, Br. Albert W. Themanson, Br. Michael Bauer,Jr., and Br. Jessee Frazer Forbes (on horseback).

 

 

    Pictures of the tree taken many years later from the time it stood as a big strong Oak under which some Masonic meetings were held, and Smithton Lodge No.1 was established.  Time had laid waste to its former strength and beauty.  Due to its age and its location and having taken the brunt of storms of the four seasons, the tree died as all living things must do.  Most of its branches had been blown from its trunk.  After the tree was cut down on March 21, 1935, it was found that the trunk as worm-eaten and almost rotted away, and hardly enough solid wood was salvaged to build the Alter.