THE MASONIC TEMPLE - KENT, OHIO
The Masonic Temple in Kent, Ohio is a historic building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Built between 1880 and 1882 in the Italianate style, it was originally the home of Kent namesake Marvin Kent and his family. Due to Marvin Kent's national prominence in the Republican Party, many political leaders visited his house, including Presidents Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, William Howard Taft, and Warren G. Harding; the guest room in which every president slept has been named the "President's Room" and preserved in its late nineteenth-century condition. This room had a washroom with warm AND cold running water, which was original to the home and very unique for the time in general. The warm water came from third-floor areas. Some other things added to the home, which were original to the home, were a central vacuum cleaning system used to vacuum the first, second, and third-floor carpets. It was operated with bellows and a treadle mechanism in the basement. A closed vertical wooden shaft with vacuum ports on each floor allowed the hose to be inserted. The first brick of the home was laid on June 7, 1880, and an incredible history followed.
However, there was a tragedy that happened in the house in 1886. In 1883, Marvin's son William married a woman named Kitty. In May of 1886, Kitty was seriously burned when a kerosene heater used to heat the ballroom of the new homestead exploded while she was attending to the stove. Although William S. Kent came to the aid of his wife, she was too severely burned, and sadly, Kitty died the following day. Shortly after Kitty's death, William S. Kent moved into the Kent homestead with his father Marvin. He lived there for 15 years when he remarried Mary Parsons in 1901. William S. Kent remained in the new homestead until his death in 1923. He left the homestead to his two nieces: Mrs. John Reed and Mrs. Charles Curtiss. The two nieces had lived in the homestead earlier as young girls and occupied the southwest bedroom. Because Mrs. John Reed's husband, father, and grandfather were all Masons, she decided in 1923 that they would sell the house to the local freemason chapter, and they took control of the house in November 1923.
Since then, the Masonic Temple has been used as their lodge where it is used to hold various events, including the Kent Flea Market which takes place on various Saturdays throughout the year. In honor of the Kent family and all that they did for Kent and the heritage of the homestead, the masons initiated a non-profit society called Kent Home Preservation Society. This society is for the purpose of raising funds and coordinating the restoration of the home to its 1923 or earlier status. In 1974, it was nominated and added to the National Register of Historic Places.