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In June 2001 we closed on the purchase of the Alonzo Kent Mansion, the former Masonic Consistory, at 305 Fourth Street in Jamestown, NY. It is new to us, but the building is actually a beautiful, old Italianate mansion originally built in 1859 by Alonzo Kent. |
It is one of those grand, brick, two-story homes that was eventually connected by several additions to a large carriage house. And there is some evidence that the mansion at one time served as an important link in the Underground Railroad preceding and during the Civil War.
Shortly after the Civil War, President Ulysses S. Grant visited Alonzo Kent at his mansion on August 14th, 1875. He and Mr. Kent had lunch together in what we have named the Grant Boardroom. Restored to its original elegance, the Boardroom now hosts a variety of Center and community events. Kathleen A. Crocker, a noted Jamestown historian, has written an account of President Grant's visit to the mansion and Chautauqua County in August 1975.
In the 1920s the mansion became a Consistory for the Masonic Orders, and the Masons made the carriage house into an auditorium and converted the old horse stalls in the basement into a very warm and useful banquet hall. Of course, along with beauty and ambiance of this place comes the responsibility of rehabilitating and maintaining it.
In 2001, after our purchase of the building, all of the masonry
was sealed and re-pointed, the old roof removed and a new insulated roof was
put on. Structural steel was installed as well to strengthen the roof of the
auditorium. Additional improvements and additions
are planned to make the Robert H. Jackson Center a world-class facility to
honor the man that it serves.