By Terry Frank, Chautauqua Correspondent
JAMESTOWN - A corporation formed to keep alive the legacy
of the late Robert H. Jackson - a former U. S. Supreme Court justice - is
acquiring a historic building to dedicate to the Frewsburg native’s
accomplishments.
Gregory Peterson, spokesman for the Robert H. Jackson Center, said Friday
that the state Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry had approved
the sale of the Rite’s Consistory building on Fourth Street to the group.
The Jamestown membership had approved the transaction earlier this month.
Terms have not been announced.
Peterson called the acquisition, which he hopes the corporation will close
on early next month, an “exciting development.”
“It happened very quickly. The Robert H. Jackson Center is designed
and will hopefully see the mission fulfilled of preserving the memory, the
values and many of the artifacts of Justice Jackson,” he said.
Many of those artifacts, including his official presidential appointment as
chief prosecutor to the Nuremberg war crimes trial following World War II,
are currently housed in the Fenton History Center.
Peterson pointed out that the concept of developing a center in honor of Jackson,
who practiced law in Jamestown before moving to Washington, D.C., has been
some time in the making.
He credited the late John Hamilton, former longtime director of the Gebbie
Foundation, for moving the idea forward. In fact, Peterson indicated that
it was the Gebbie Foundation that was instrumental in erecting a statue of
Jackson along North Main Street at Love Elementary School several years ago.
“Their fear was that perhaps if something wasn’t done then, his
memory might be lost in the dustbin of history,” he noted. “Since
that time, there’s been a renaissance of interest - certainly locally
- but also, as I’ve learned, on a national and international level.”
According to Peterson, the Gebbie Foundation’s current director, Thomas
Cardman, local businessman, Carl Cappa, and Elizabeth Lenna, widow of local
industrialist Reginald Lenna, have been among the leaders in the movement.
“We’re going to hopefully manifest our mission through extensive
dialogues, which will (include) hosting international officials and dignitaries,
lectures on the issues of peace and justice, and...continuing education for
attorneys, judges and public officials,” he said.
Under terms of the proposed sale, the Masons will continue to use the consistory
for its meetings and offices. Peterson termed it a “win-win” situation
because Jackson was himself a Mason.
“They not only feel it’s good for the ongoing operations of a
variety of groups that are housed there, but also the fact it memorializes
one of their alums - Robert Jackson - who was a 33rd-degree Mason,”
said Peterson.
Preliminary plans call for renovating the nearly 80-year-old building. The
first floor, auditorium, robing room, and dining room would be used for seminars
and special public programs. The Masons would have use of the second floor
and hold reunions in the auditorium.
Jackson, who was born in Spring Creek, Pa., served on the U. S. Supreme Court
from 1941 to 1954. He received the Presidential Medal of Honor from President
Harry S. Truman in 1946, following the war crimes trial.
He also was instrumental in framing the Supreme Court’s 1954 ruling
in Brown vs. the Topeka Board of Education, which declared racial segregation
of public schools unconstitutional.