The Home for Aged Masons, formerly known as the Masonic Widows' and Orphans' Home and the Middle Tennessee Tuberculosis Hospital, is a historic building in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

, USA.

History

The land was given to the

Grand Lodge of Tennessee The Grand Lodge of Tennessee, officially the Grand Lodge of the Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Tennessee, is the main governing body of Freemasonry within Tennessee. This Grand Lodge was established in ...

Free and Accepted Masons by

Jere Baxter Jere Baxter (February 11, 1852 – February 29, 1904) was an American businessman, lawyer, and politician. He was the founder of the Tennessee Central Railroad. Early life Jere Baxter was born on February 11, 1852, in Nashville, Tennessee.

, the founder of the

Tennessee Central Railroad The Tennessee Central Railway was founded in 1884 as the Nashville and Knoxville Railroad by Alexander S. Crawford. It was an attempt to open up a rail route from the coal and minerals of East Tennessee to the markets of the midstate, a service ...

. With plans. 20 photos included with registration not included in PDF. The building was designed by Nashville architects Asmus and Norton in

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archi ...

style, and was completed in 1913–1915. It housed older

Freemasons Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

and families of lower means. It was co-founded by William H. Bumpas and Marcus B. Toney, who served as its founding president. Toney was a Confederate veteran,

Klansman The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

, and

Edward Bushrod Stahlman Edward Bushrod Stahlman (September 2, 1843 – August 12, 1930) was a German-born American railroad executive, newspaper publisher and real estate investor. He was the vice president of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad and the Louisville, N ...

's brother-in-law. Stahlman was one of the charter members. Masonic Home Aerial Image

The building was acquired by the state of Tennessee and repurposed as the Middle Tennessee Tuberculosis Hospital in 1941. It was used as offices for the

Tennessee Department of Health The Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) is the primary agency of state government in Tennessee responsible for public health. Its workforce provides a variety of direct and indirect services to residents and visitors in all 95 counties of the ...

in the 1970s and 1980s. The property was unoccupied from 1999 to 2009, when the state of Tennessee suggested demolishing it to save money. However, by 2016 state officials were "attempting" to preserve it. It has been listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

since November 19, 2008.

References

Residential buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee Colonial Revival architecture in Tennessee Masonic buildings completed in 1915 Buildings and structures in Davidson County, Tennessee Former Masonic buildings in Tennessee National Register of Historic Places in Nashville, Tennessee {{DavidsonCountyTN-NRHP-stub