Page 15 - August 2018

Pictured above standing in from the Helena Chinese
Masonic Temple are three members of John Philip Sousa's
touring band. Photo taken about March, 1899.

a

X X

The location of the Chinese Masonic Temple, circa 1890.
The building was a Laundry at the time. 3
Site of the Chinese Masonic Temple. 3
ancestor or that they had any direct connections in the past.
And yet the similarities between the two are so compelling,
in rituals, social function and even in former revolutionary
sympathies (less direct in the case of Euro-American
X X Lodges) that Chinese and western Masons have long sought
to build bridges to each other.

“We have a Chinese Lodge of Freemasons. They honor us
with frequent invitations. They do us no harm and probably
do some good in their way. Our Chinese Lodges extorted
from us a certifi cate that they were not “highbinders."-
g Cornelius Hedges, MWPGM & R.W. Grand Secretary,
d 1897.
1914 view of the building as the Chinese Masonic Temple. 3
For many years the Mai Wah Society museum in Butte,
This institution played an essential role in the lives MT, held on display the altar from the Chinese Masonic
of early Chinese settlers to Montana. In addition to Temple in Helena. The altar has recently undergone
f providing its members with an opportunity for relaxation conservation by and is held by the Montana Historical
and entertainment, this institution with its emphasis on Society, Interpretive Historian, Ellen Baumler has written
brotherhood, also reinforced the Chinese social and cultural
values. about in "Forgotten Pioneers, by Ellen Baumler."

g The ‘Chinese Masonic Society’ did practice certain
fundamental tenets of Freemasonry; some were very active
in community aff airs and raising monies for charities. They
were not engaged in the political issues of the host country.
In the original teachings of the Hung Society, the candidate,
during his initiation in the society, was taken on a symbolic
journey of the soul through the underworld. The teachings
of Freemasonry can be associated with a symbolical
journey where we strive to perfect our principles and
control our passions from birth to death. Both Societies
believe in benevolence, assisting their fellow man and
moral self-improvement. There does not seem to be a lot
of information recorded for them as part of the Helena or
Lewis and Clark County community.

The characters over the door read: In overseas Chinese communities there were dubious
4
"Chee Kung Tong", photo circa 1937. linkages between Freemasons and these organizations;
Speculations have long existed about the connection however, outsiders called these Masonic Lodges because
of their secretive nature. Even members of the Freemasons
between the Tiandihui/Hongmen/Chee Kung Tong and attempted to fi nd linkages between Chinese secret societies
the Freemasons go back to the early 19th century. Most and Freemasonry with limited results besides some similar
historians doubt that the two groups share a common iconography and rituals. Other Freemasons, however, have