The Winona Masonic Temple is a historic Masonic Temple in Winona, Minnesota, United States, completed in 1909. Many local civic and business leaders were members of the lodge.

Venue: Winona Masonic Temple
Town: Winona, US

The Winona Masonic Temple is a historic Masonic Temple in Winona, Minnesota, United States, completed in 1909. Many local civic and business leaders were members of the lodge. Containing a large ballroom and other meeting space, the building was an important venue in Winona for both Masonic activities and general public events. The Winona Masonic Temple was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998 for having state-level significance in the themes of art and social history. It was nominated as the headquarters of a fraternal organization important to Winona's civic and social development, and for containing Minnesota's largest collection of Masonic theatre backdrops and stage equipment. Many Euro-American men who came to Minnesota in the mid to late nineteenth century were Freemasons. Consequently, the development of Masonry in Minnesota paralleled the organization of many of the state's first towns. In 1853 a Grand Masonic Lodge was organized by the three lodges that already existed in Stillwater, Saint Paul, and St. Anthony. The Grand Lodge dispensed charters for new lodges and created standard procedures and rituals. In January 1857 a charter was issued for Winona Lodge No. 18. For the first several years of its existence the Winona Lodge met in various buildings. Meetings were mostly held in members' places of business. In 1863 and 1864 local chapters of the Royal Arch and Knights Templar Masons merged with the Winona Lodge. In 1873 the Masons moved to the third floor of the new Laird Norton Lumber Company Building. The space was designed according to the Masons' specifications. In the late nineteenth century membership grew and the Masonic activities of the Winona Masons became more complex. New Masonic chapters were formed under other Masonic orders. Several bodies were charted that followed the Scottish Rite Valley, one of the most complex orders of Freemasonry. In 1900 a local chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star was formed that allowed