Masonic Home and School of Texas
Posted by: 
QuesterMark
N 32° 42.528 W 097° 16.838
14S E 661151 N 3620312
Update 2018: The campus is now ACH Child and Family Services.
This marker is inside the eponymous Fort Worth campus, in front of the chapel, near the three flagpoles.
Waymark Code: WM15NX
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 01/23/2007
Views: 17
Index Entry: Masonic Home and School of Texas
Address: 3600 Wichita Street
City: Fort Worth
County: Tarrant
Subject Codes: ED; FO
Year Marker Erected: 1999
Designations: na
Marker Location:
Marker Size: 27" x 42"
The Home and School closed in 2005 having become too expensive to operate. Sometime later all 200 acres of the property was acquired by the Mallick Group to be developed. In 2008, Valerie and Michael Mallick donate 19.5 acres and nine buildings to ACH. This is all the land that had the Home and School buildings.
More recent history here: (
visit link)
Marker Number: 12209
Marker Text:
The Grand Lodge of Freemasons in Texas, organized in 1837 in the Republic of Texas, was granted a charter by the new State of Texas on April 28, 1846. Among the stated purposes of the organization was support of education and charitable causes. At its 1885 annual meeting, the Grand Lodge appointed a committee to plan a "Masonic Widows and Orphans Home." Calling for bids from Texas lodges the following year, the Grand Lodge accepted the offer of Fort Worth Lodge No. 148 in 1888 for 200 acres of land and $5,000 toward building costs.
Construction of the institution's buildings at this site began in 1898. A special Texas & Pacific Railroad excursion train brought Masons and visitors to a cornerstone leveling ceremony on June 7, 1899, and the first building was completed later that year. Dr. Frank Rainey of Austin was named superintendent. Known as the "Masonic Home and School of Texas," the facility included buildings designed by noted architects Wiley G. Clarkson of Fort Worth and Herbert M. Greene of Dallas. The Masonic Home Independent School District was formed by the State Board of Education in 1913, and by 1930 more than 450 students were being cared for and educated here. Under terms of an agreement reached in 1911, Masonic widows were transferred to the new home for aged Masons in Arlington.
Over the years the mission of the home to care for children of Texas Masons was expanded to offer educational opportunities to additional relatives of Masons, as well as to other children sponsored by Texas lodges. The school continues a legacy of excellence in education. The campus was listed in the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district in 1992. (1999)
|
Visit Instructions:
Please include a picture in your log. You and your GPS receiver do not need to be in the picture. We encourage additional information about your visit (comments about the surrounding area, how you ended up near the marker, etc.) in the log.