Filed Under African American
Masonic Temple Building (Prince Hall)
This three-story brick building with Italianate details housed commercial space on the first floor, a meeting hall on the second floor, and the Masonic Hall on the third floor. It was built in 1907 by Raleigh's earliest African American fraternal orders: the Widow's Sons' Lodge #4, established in 1867 by prominent African American missionary and social leader Bishop James W. Hood; and the Excelsior Lodge #21, founded in 1879. The lodges were major contributors to the social and economic betterment of Raleigh's African American community. Oral tradition suggests it was built of bricks salvaged from the earlier white Masonic Hall, demolished to make way for the 1907 Masonic Hall at 133 Fayetteville Street.
Date: 1907
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