Freemasonry, Eager to Step From Cultural Shadows

Fletcher says the Masons numbered 1.5 million in 2006, down from a peak of 4 million in 1959. He says the membership shrank rapidly as the World War II generation, which he described as a generation of joiners, has continued to age and die.

But now there's a feeling in the group -- not yet backed up by statistics -- that the tide has turned and that a new generation is "looking for something beyond themselves, an anchor to stabilize their lives," Fletcher says. He says younger men nowadays are part of a "generation of volunteers," which he predicts will stabilize the downturn.

Others aren't as optimistic.

"The lodges are in deep decline," says UCLA historian Margaret Jacob, author of "The Origins of Freemasonry: Facts & Fictions" and an expert in Masonic history. "It's no longer a vital societal organization, so it has become the subject of myth and legend."

One prominent local Mason today is Stephen Trachtenberg, former president of George Washington University. He says he initially joined out of deference to the group's generosity in funding dozens of student scholarships. Trachtenberg says his membership makes him feel he's experiencing something out of another era.

"I'm 70, and I lower the average age when I enter the room," Trachtenberg says. He notes that it was like "being in a wonderful time machine, working with people who are transparently forthright. It's a 19th-century endeavor looking to redefine itself in the 21st century."

Like so many things about the Masons, even the organization's origins are shrouded in mystery. Hundreds of books have been written about them, but little is certain, partly because the organization has been so secretive and partly because conspiracy theorists have spread a variety of tales about the Masons and their ceremonies.

In the 1700s and 1800s, members tended to be intellectual free thinkers, associated with Protestantism and scientific inquiry. Freemasonry spread from England throughout Europe, and Masons were frequently involved with revolutionary movements. American Freemasons included Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, James Madison, James Monroe, Paul Revere and John Paul Jones.

Members came to be viewed as dangerous rabble-rousers, particularly by those in positions of power. In 1738, Pope Clement XII declared that any group that operated in such secrecy was suspect, and that any Catholic who joined the group would be excommunicated. Adolf Hitler thought the Masons were engaged in a conspiracy with the Jews to dominate world affairs, and he persecuted European Masons and seized their libraries and archives.

Masons today say the group is not anti-Catholic and that it welcomes any man who believes in God and demonstrates good character. Their ceremonies contain religious references but are nondenominational and apolitical, they say.

The group is believed to have been started by medieval stonemasons working with softer material called freestone, hence the name. Since the group's beginnings, its members have shared an intense interest in construction, and their ceremonies are still filled with architecture-related terminology and stories associated with the wonders of the ancient world. The group owns some of the most grandiose real estate in the country.

And the Masonic Temple in Alexandria isn't the Masons' only jaw-dropping Washington real estate. There's also the formidable Temple of the Scottish Rite on 16th Street NW, a massive neoclassical building -- flanked by two 17-ton sphinxes that can be puzzling to locals -- along with 36 other lodges.

Local Masons spearheaded the effort to build the Masonic Temple in Alexandria to honor Washington and to house relics associated with his membership. It was completed in 1932, during the depths of the Great Depression.

The temple's construction was an event of enormous regional importance. President Calvin Coolidge laid the cornerstone, and President Herbert Hoover attended the dedication.

But the group now must overcome a long legacy of suspicion. Seghers says one of the main things he wants to do is update the exhibits at the Masonic Temple to tell a coherent story about his philanthropic organization.

Touring the Masonic Temple's Cryptic Council and Grotto Rooms recently, Seghers pointed out Egyptian murals depicting scenes from the Old Testament, lotus and papyrus columns, alcoves filled with coins and artifacts, and rows of pictures of aging Masons wearing fezzes adorned with Arabic words written in glitter.

"These rooms confuse people. They can even scare people, " Seghers says. "One woman asked us if she could leave. They don't understand it. They say, 'This is all very nice, but what is it?' We need to change that."