KAMLOOPS MASONIC CENTER

The Center, opened on May 10, 1975, harbors an impressively built meeting room, a banquet room equipped with a commercial-sized kitchen (with all the amenities), and the KMTA administration office. The halls are lined with glass cabinets highlighting historical artifacts & memorabillia, and the walls are filled with pictures of past masters and grand past masters alike.

Enter the lodge meeting room and the first thing you will see is that it is adorned with incredible woodwork and an absolutely stunning celestial map on the ceiling, depicting the night sky over Kamloops in May 1975. Each star is a separate light inset right into the ceiling itself. Flick on the night lights and sky comes alive. The map was the work of Ted Morgan, a Past Master of Kamloops Lodge No. 10 and, at the time, a night school astronomy student at Caribou College (now TRU), under the direction of Dr. Roland Cobb, who was again involved in updating it in the summer of 2007.

The Kamloops Masonic Temple Association is the governing body of the lodge building and the adjoining Acacia Tower Apartment Building. The Lodge facility houses most of the concordant bodies.

ACACIA TOWERS

The Acacia Tower was built in modules in a manufacturing process called “precast, prestressed concrete” in Vancouver & Edmonton and shipped to Kamloops for assembly. At the time this was the first building west of Winnipeg built with this type of construction. Today it is a typical way of constructing tall concrete buildings. This 14 story building was assembled in the same time as the 3 story stick apartment building that was being built across the street.

Original plans were for a four story building until it became apparent that it would not be financially feasible. The plan then grew to encompass 14 floors. This is the tallest building in Kamloops to date.

A few tenants who are still living here took up their tenancy back in 1975. Fifty percent of the tenants are over 55 years old. There are 106 apartments consisting of Bachelor, small and large one bedroom suites. The building boasted a 0% vacancy rate since 2005.