Several years ago, Dr. Candace Kruttschnitt traveled to Mount Isa to visit Casa Grande, the architecturally significant house built by her grandfather, Julius Kruttschnitt, Jr., general manager of the Mount Isa Mine. A grand house designed by the prominent Brisbane firm of Donoghue, Cusick, and Edwards reflected the influence of Kruschnitt’s time spent in Arizona and Mexico. […]
A Test of the Power of Masonry
By J.R. Boyce, P.G.M., of Montana, Formerly of Columbia, Missouri. Writing in the Statesmen (Columbia, Mo.) I read tonight in the October number of the Voice, from the pen of that “old man eloquent,” Cornelius Moore, an article headed “Masonic Reminiscences.” I, too, have Reminiscences of the past in Masonry; and although I cannot so […]
Greer Historian Preserved Relic from J.E. Thompson Lodge
This blogger battled high altitude, dry air, and a near-empty library to make an important discovery in Greer, Arizona (elevation 8,356 feet). A local historian, Wink Crigler, not only preserved one of the two guest cabins at great grandfather J.E. Thompson’s lodge but possessed the only known photograph of the main lodge, built in about […]
The Unexciting Truth About William Boyce Thompson’s Picket Post Mansion
After his stroke, a personal assistant rolled an invalid William Boyce Thompson in a bathtub on wheels to the window so that he could watch the sunrise over Apache Leap from his beloved Picket Post mansion. The heartwarming story is one of several compelling urban legends told to visitors of the Magnate’s Castle on the […]
Philip Benjamin: Portrait of a Small-Time Con
The life of Philip Benjamin (1779-1852) remains a mystery. But a review of his legal woes in the 1820s, when he was trying to raise a family, paints a clear portrait of him as a swindler. The first-generation Jewish American was in and out of court, losing case after case, with the exact ineffectual attorney, […]
James Richard Thompson: The Brains Behind the Operation
James Richard Thompson (1873-1927) was born in Virginia City, Montana, the second son of William Thompson (1832-1900) and Annie Marie Boyce (1846-1894). Relatives described him as an avid reader who lived in a house filled to the brim with books. The three boys – including William Boyce (1869-1930) and Joseph Edward (1875-1950) – were wonderfully […]