I would like to cordially invite you to join me in kicking my butt. A number of years ago I passed on an opportunity to attend the Midwest Conference on Masonic Education when it was held in Detroit, Michigan. A portion of the conference was to be held in the Detroit Masonic Temple, and was to include a tour of the building. When I recently came across an article entitled, "Take a Look Inside Detroit's Secretive Masonic Temple," it piqued my curiosity to see what I had missed.

O..M..G..!

I'd read that it was the largest Masonic temple in the world, but I had no idea what that meant until I saw the photos. Sure, 1,037 rooms and twelve million cubic feet of space sounds like a lot but the human mind, at least my feeble human mind, can't begin to grasp it without the aid of visuals. And, the finely carved woodwork, and stonework, and beautiful furnishings, and multiple examples of architectural styles, and the exquisite attention to detail are just simply astounding. And, I missed it. I can't even remember why I didn't go; that's how good of a reason it was.

After reading the first article and seeing the amazing photos I did a quick search and discovered a brief history of the building and another page of fascinating photos on the Detroit Masonic Temple Web site.

Seeing this building in person has now taken a prominent place on my bucket list but until then, if you wouldn't mind, I'm going to need your assistance. It will be a while before I tire of kicking myself for missing such an opportunity, but when I do I would appreciate it if you could take over. I'm gonna to need a lot more kickin' than I'm up to.

I can't imagine anyone wouldn't enjoy the photos of this architectural masterpiece but even if you're not into architecture it's an incredibly impressive work of craftsmanship and art. Take a look and let me know what you think. Oh, and if you get to the comments section of that first article and people are talking about the Masons abandoning the building - it's not true. In fact, the Detroit Masonic Temple Association recently won a court case in which they basically fired the management company and the usage and income of the building are on the upswing.

Fraternally yours,

Tim Couch

Here are those Web addresses in case the links aren't working properly up above. Just copy and paste into your browser's address bar:

"Take a Look Inside Detroit's Secretive Masonic Temple"

http://detroit.curbed.com/archives/2014/05/masonic.php

A brief history of Detroit Masonic Temple:

http://www.detroitmasonic.com/

More photos of Detroit Masonic Temple:

http://www.detroitmasonic.com/pictures.htm

For news of upcoming events and special communications visit the Upcoming Masonic Events page on Masonsmart.com

For a calendar of Stated meetings for many of the Lodges and Masonic bodies visit the Masonic Calendar page on Masonsmart.com

For help locating a lodge building visit the Missouri Masonic Lodge Map page on Masonsmart.com

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