A Very Unique Thing

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Bro. Steve Harrison, 33°, FMLR

Jackson County, Missouri is named for Andrew Jackson, who served as the seventh President of the United States, from 1829–37.  The Jackson County Courthouse sits on the town square in Independence, Missouri, the famous home of Harry Truman, the thirty-third President, serving from 1945–53.  When Truman was a county judge from 1922–24 and again from 1926–34, he had an office in the iconic building.

Statues of the two men flank the courthouse.  On the west side, Jackson's statue shows him astride his horse in full military regalia as he might have appeared as a major-general in the Battle of New Orleans.

On the east side of the courthouse, Truman's statue depicts him, cane in hand, taking his morning constitutional, as was his custom in Independence in the days after his presidency.

Together, the placement of these two statues inadvertently makes the courthouse grounds a memorial to a very unique thing: Andrew Jackson and Harry Truman are the only two men who have served both as President of the United States and Grand Master of their respective Masonic Grand Lodges.  Most Worshipful Brother Jackson  was Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Tennessee from 1822–24; Most Worshipful Brother Truman was Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Missouri from 1940–41.



~SLH

Steve Harrison, 33° KCCH, is a Past Master of Liberty Lodge #31, Liberty, Missouri. He is the editor of the Missouri Freemason magazine, author of the book Freemasonry Crosses the Mississippi, a Fellow of the Missouri Lodge of Research and also its Senior Warden. He is a dual member of Kearney Lodge #311, St. Joseph Missouri Valley of the Scottish Rite, Liberty York Rite, Moila Shrine and is a member of the DeMolay Legion of Honor.