Masons Cherry Pie Festival and history lesson
A finger-licking good time had by all
The Masons of Central Lodge No. 6 hosted their annual Washington’s Birthday/Cherry Pie Festival on Wednesday, February 24, at the Lodge hall on Eureka Street in Central City. The Lodge provided a dinner of Sloppy Joes with drinks, wonderful cherry pie and educational entertainment to a packed house of more than 140 Gilpin County 4th-6th graders and their families.
The Masons hold this event honoring George Washington, as he was a Mason who belonged to a Virginia lodge. George Washington was originally a surveyor who became a general, and then a president–the first President of the United States of America. Washington served two terms as president from 1789 to 1797.
After dinner the kids were gathered in front of Washington’s famous Glendenning portrait for a George Washington question-and-answer session led by Mike Katich and his lovely assistant Zoe and stagehand Drew. At last year’s Cherry Pie Festival, Katich challenged the students to bring their Washington questions for him to answer at this year’s event. If a student’s question stumped him, he or she would be rewarded with real United States legal tender, “gold” dollar coins with James Monroe’s (our fifth president) portrait minted on one side of the coin.
One of the first student questions was “What do the Masons and Gilpin County students have in common?” After being stumped, Katich found out the answer was all are smart and he rewarded the student with a gold coin. Katich and the kids had fun with the question, “What were his teeth made of?” Katich offered the answers of Silly Putty, Play Dough, only to find out the real answer was hippo teeth.
The special guest of the event was Henry M. Teller, Esquire – as portrayed by Neal Standard – complete with a white beard and period costume of top hat and frock coat. Mr. Teller told students stories from his life, that he was born in New York and moved to Colorado in 1861, settling in the mining camp of Central City to practice law, before Colorado became a State of the Union in 1876.
Teller served as the first U.S. Congressman from Colorado and later became the Secretary of the Interior. Teller served in Congress for thirty years, first as a Republican and then as a Democrat, from 1885 until 1909. Teller was president of the local Colorado Central Railroad, involved in building the Central City Opera House and his own luxury hotel, the Teller House, in 1872.
When President Ulysses S. Grant visited his friend Teller in 1873, mine owners laid 26 ingots of solid silver from local mines, including Caribou Mine, to make a path to the entrance of the Teller House. It was said that the president became angry and used the wood boardwalk instead. The U.S. Congress was then deciding whether to back our currency, the dollar, with gold or silver and President Grant said he would not show favoritism by walking on silver.
After leaving office Teller practiced law in Denver, Colorado, until his death in 1914. He is buried in Fairmount Cemetery in Denver. When the Masons’ Mr. Teller (Neal Standard) was asked why he was buried in Denver, he responded he often visited his family in Denver and his brother, Willard, “got me my gravesite for free!”
Mike Katich answered a few more Washington questions such as what was one of his dog’s names. The student-supplied answer was “Sweetheart!” How many presidents were after Washington? Forty-three followed. Katich declared everyone a winner, instructing Zoe and Drew to give everyone 16 years old or younger a gold coin. As a thank you the Gilpin County school students presented Katich with gifts, most notably a gold-and-black pom-pom so he could be a cheerleader at the sports games!
A final question from a student was how were the pictures painted? A member of Central Lodge No. 6, a Scottish artist named John J. Glendenning, painted most of the twenty-two symbolic pictures on the Masonic Hall walls exclusively by candlelight in the 1860s. No sunlight reaches the hall and a city ordinance at the time prohibited the use of kerosene lamps for light. The wall paintings are now flanked by inactive kerosene lamps, which have fans on the bottom to prevent soot deposits on the wall. These well-preserved paintings are world renown for their vibrant beauty.
The evening closed with many smiling faces and lots of small hands clutching gold coins. Once again a bighearted thank-you goes out to the members of Central Lodge No. 6, especially Ernie Clore, Mike Katich, George Snyder, and other participants who organized this generous and highly popular annual event.