Photos: The Prince Hall Masonic Lodge on Auburn Avenue

Metro Atlanta

Photos: The Prince Hall Masonic Lodge on Auburn Avenue

Images of Atlanta's Prince Hall Masonic Lodge on Auburn Avenue, the historic home of WERD-AM, the nation's first Black-owned radio station, and of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

The Prince Hall Masonic Lodge on Auburn Avenue, built in 1940 and the first home to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the first Black-owned radio station, is set to be renovated with parts of it being used for the National Park Service King Memorial Site. Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The lodge, seen here in 1955, is slated to get a new roof, windows, air conditioning, electrical works, elevator and a recreation of King’s office, as part of the $10.2 million facelift. (Handout)

The Prince Hall Masonic Lodge's classic neon sign has been a staple of Auburn Avenue for decades. The National Park Service will manage the building and plans to open a visitors center in it. As for the sign, “The National Park Service loves that sign, and so do the Masons,” said lodge member Ed Bowen, a real estate developer leading the project. “We’re going to make it look like it once did.” (Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

The Prince Hall Masons own the building and still use it for meetings inside the lodge's main hall. (Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

John Wesley Dobbs, a prominent Atlanta businessman and Grandmaster of the Prince Hall Masons, began developing the building in 1937. Dobbs was such a booster for the business district that he's remembered as the "mayor of Auburn Avenue" who dubbed the street "Sweet Auburn." (AJC file)

The Masons have wanted to rehab the property for years, said lodge member Ed Bowen, a real estate developer leading the project. “The building has been maintained over the years, but it hasn’t had any significant structural improvements,” he said. (Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

The Most Worshipful Grand Master Corey Shackelford, Sr. gives a tour of the main meeting room at the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge on Auburn Avenue. (Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Shackleford, left, and Edward Driver search the basement of the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge on Auburn Avenue for a rumored secret passage that was built into the building so former Grand Master John Wesley Dobbs could escape if the KKK came to the building looking for him. (Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

The lodge was also the location of the nation’s first Black-owned radio station, WERD-AM. Jesse Blayton, an Atlanta University professor, purchased the station in 1949 and changed its format to appeal to the Black community. (Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

The former headquarters of WERD were in this room. (Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

The Prince Hall Masonic Lodge housed the first office of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Here, Andrew Young and Martin Luther King Jr. appear at a press conference at the lodge on Nov. 2, 1964. (Handout)

The room used by Andrew Young and Martin Luther King, Jr. in the previous photo from 1964 still looks largely the same. (Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

A printing press once used for the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., sits in the basement of the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge on Auburn Avenue. (Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

An SCLC poster sits in the basement of the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge on Auburn Avenue. Numerous documents and memorabilia related to King and the civil rights movement stored inside the building will be preserved by the building's renovation. (Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

More SCLC posters are seen in the basement of the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge on Auburn Avenue. (Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

The words to “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” often called “The Black National Anthem,” hang on a wall in the basement of the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge. (Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

An old change collection can in the basement of the lodge from when the SCLC had its offices there. (Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Members of the renovation committee give a tour of the main meeting room. Pictured from left are Edward Driver, Marcel L. Reed, Most Worshipful Grand Master Corey Shackleford, Sr, Primus T. James and Dr. Benjamin Barksdale. The two upper floors will be renovated as office space for small businesses and as meeting space for the nine Masonic groups that actively use the building, including the Eastern Star of Georgia. (Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

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Credit: Ben Gray

The Prince Hall Masonic Lodge on Auburn Avenue, built in 1940 and the first home to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the first Black-owned radio station, is set to be renovated with parts of it being used for the National Park Service King Memorial Site. Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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