Jennings McCall Center

History of the Masonic & Eastern Star Home

The initial attempt to establish an Oregon Masonic Home for "the aged and distressed" was introduced in 1883 by Worshipful Brother J.P. Galbraith, Master of Brownsville Lodge No. 36. The adopted resolution, however, was postponed and further action was delayed for 33 years. In 1907 Pendleton Lodge No. 52 voted to set aside $150 for the express intent of starting a fund to ultimately build a Grand Lodge Masonic Home. This money was kept with other invested funds of the Grand Lodge, and in 1917 the principal and interest came to $250. That year, Most Worshipful Grand Master Will Moore (Pendleton No. 52) again brought forth the idea of establishing a Masonic Home.

He said, "There is a growing sentiment throughout the jurisdiction for the establishment of a Masonic Home in this state. It sometimes appears to me that we in Oregon are too satisfied with our position as Masons, that we dwell too much in the past and are too prone to boast of the achievements of Masonry and of the great things it has done, and that we pay too little attention to the present and the preparation for the future." Would not a Masonic Home, symbolizing as it does those great tenets of Masonry - brotherly love, relief and truth - be an incentive for higher thoughts, nobler deeds and grander achievements? Would it not become at once a center around which we might erect an everlasting monument to the true and beautiful principles of Masonry?"

The Committee on the Masonic Home presented its report and called for a special fund to be established. It would be known as the "Masonic & Eastern Star Home Building Fund." Gifts, devises, and bequests would be received for that purpose; the minimum fees for degrees would be increased and for every Entered Apprentice initiated each Lodge would forward $5 of that sum to the Grand Secretary as part of the building fund; and the net income of the Grand Lodge from all sources except the Educational Fund, after the deduction of expenses and appropriations, would be set aside at the end of each Masonic year in this fund. When it had grown to $50,000, work began on the building at the chosen site in Forest Grove.

The Home has been there for the purpose of caring for those Oregon Master Masons, their wives and mothers, and the wives and widows of deceased Oregon Master Masons, and Sisters of the Order of the Eastern Star in Oregon, who are in need. The Home Board is composed of five representatives of the Grand Lodge and three representatives of the Grand Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star of Oregon. The Board meets monthly to deal with the business of the Home. To learn more about Masonry in Oregon go towww.masonic-oregon.com. To learn more about the Order of the Eastern Star go to www.oregonoes.org.

Jennings McCall Center

Supported by funding from the Masonic Grand Lodge, Jennings McCall Center was built and opened to the public in 1989 as an independent living retirement community. It is named after Berryman Jennings, the first Most Worshipful Grand Master of the Masons in Oregon, and Mary McCall the first Worthy Grand Matron of the Order of the Eastern Star in Oregon.

In 1999 the 141 units of assisted living were added to the existing 75 units of independent living and opened to the public. Members of the original Masonic and Eastern Star Home were moved to the modern assisted living units at Jennings McCall.

Today the original building is leased to McMenamins and is operated as a hotel, restaurant and entertainment complex as McMenamins Grand Lodge in Forest Grove.