The Masonic Widows and Orphans Home, located in

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

near St. Matthews,

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

, is a historic building on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. It was built by the

Grand Lodge of Kentucky The Grand Lodge of Kentucky is one of two state organizations that supervise Masonic lodges in the state of Kentucky. It was established in 1800. The Grand Lodge of Virginia (GLVA) established Lexington Lodge #25, the first Masonic lodge west o ...

to support the widows and orphans of

Master Mason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

s, but now is open to all senior citizens.

History

The Masonic Widows' and Orphans' Home was formed in 1867 due to a discussion on November 23, 1866, pondering what to do with the number of widows and orphans of Masons caused by the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

; the 1867 founding makes Kentucky's Masonic Widows and Orphans Home the oldest Masonic home in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. It started when a group of Louisville Freemasons on November 23, 1866, gathered with an intention of creating such a home. The Kentucky General Assembly chartered the organization in January 1867. The initial starting funds for starting the home was $30,000, with additional funds totaling $20,000 and $12,000 separately. The cornerstone of the original home, located north of Avery Street between First and Second Street in what was previously a cornfield, was laid in 1869, with the first resident admitted on April 7, 1871. The building was completed in 1873. A tornado on June 2, 1875, damaged the roof and center walls of the original building, but no one was injured.Grand Lodge of Kentucky Free & Accepted Masons
Masonic Homes KY
Masonic Homes of Kentucky Employer Info on CareerBuilder

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and the

Spanish influenza The 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or by the common misnomer Spanish flu, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 subtype of the influenza A virus. The earliest docum ...

outbreak during and immediately after the war caused overcrowding. Thus, the decision was made to construct a larger orphan's home than the original in Louisville, to the present-day location in Louisville/St. Matthews on Frankfort Avenue, at the cost of $9,400,000. Construction began in 1925 on the location, and the residents moved to it on August 15, 1927. Louisville daily newspaper ''

The Courier-Journal The ''Courier Journal'', also known as the ''Louisville Courier Journal'' (and informally ''The C-J'' or ''The Courier''), and called ''The Courier-Journal'' between November 8, 1868, and October 29, 2017, is a daily newspaper published in ...

'' called it "Little City Beautiful". The largest concentration of orphans at the home was 632 in 1930. The last orphan left in 1989, resulting in the home being solely for senior care.

Modern era

Most of the buildings established at the campus are still in existence. The Grand Lodge of Kentucky has its offices at the location. Until the orphans were eventually taught in public schools, originally their education was on the campus, with a cannery, farm operation, print shop, sewing room, and shoe shop there to teach the orphans a trade to support themselves in their adulthood. The St. Johns Day League Infirmary took care of sick residents. Once Kentucky state laws forbid using crops grown on the farm to feed the residents, the farm operations were sold off in 1988. The Home now accepts residents who are not related to Masons. In 2009 construction began on the property for the Kosair Charities Pediatric Day Care Center. The center opened in 2010 as Sproutlings Pediatric Day Care & Preschool.Masonic Home to get new day care center
''Courier-Journal'', December 19, 2008 There was another Masonic orphanage in Louisville area, established across the

Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...

Port Fulton, Indiana Port Fulton was a town located two miles up the river from Louisville, within present-day Jeffersonville, Indiana. At its height it stretched from the Ohio River to modern-day 10th Street, and from Crestview to Jefferson/Main Streets. Port ...

(now part of Jeffersonville), on the grounds of the former Jefferson General Hospital. It also ran out of orphans around the year 1990, and the grounds were used to construct a newer Masonic temple for the local lodges and

Order of the Eastern Star The Order of the Eastern Star (OES) is a Freemasonry, Masonic List of fraternal auxiliaries and side degrees, appendant Masonic bodies, body open to both men and women. It was established in 1850 by lawyer and educator Rob Morris (Freemason), R ...

chapters.

Gallery

File:GLKY Main Gate.JPG, Main Gate, off Frankfort Avenue File:GLKY Office 2.JPG, Offices of the

, on the premises

References

{{reflist

External links

Official site of the Masonic HomeOfficial site of Sproutlings
Residential buildings completed in 1927 National Register of Historic Places in Louisville, Kentucky Masonic buildings in Kentucky Residential buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Kentucky Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Kentucky Widowhood in the United States 1927 establishments in Kentucky Orphanages in the United States Housing for the elderly in the United States Colonial Revival architecture in Kentucky Fraternal retirement homes