Salina Post proudly presents Flashback Friday in partnership with the Smoky Hill Museum. Enjoy a weekly tidbit of local history from the staff at Salina Post and the Smoky Hill Museum as we present “Salina-Flashback Fridays.”
By SALINA POST
On South Santa Fe, a large, square building with stark white columns looms over the downtown avenue in Salina.
This building, today named The Temple, has served multiple roles in the community. Initially, contractors built the first Masonic Temple in 1890 at 124 S. Santa Fe Ave., until 1895 when the building burned down.
Contractors then rebuilt the Masonic Temple, a three-story building built in the ruins of the first temple, which stood at the same address until another fire in 1922.
According to The Temple's National Register of Historic Places application, the Salina Masonic Society around 1919 began to look for a new location to accommodate its members better.
In 1920, Eberhardt Construction broke ground for the third iteration of the Masonic Temple at 336 S. Santa Fe.
The building finished construction in 1927 and included seven floors of neoclassical architecture, complete with Indiana limestone and Tennessee marble facades.
Click and drag the white circle in the above image to see the Temple from c. 1950s, on the left, and present day, on the right.
Since then, it continued to serve multiple Masonic societies until around 2016, when the non-profit group Salina Innovation Foundation renamed the building The Temple and renovated it as an event center.
The National Register of Historic Places put it on its list in March of 2000, officially designating the building as a historic site.
History's haunting of modern times
Due to its long past in the community, many who visit The Temple report unusual happenings within the historic site.
The Temple executive director, Mary Landes, said many visitors tell staff about knocking, footsteps or shadows they experienced while in the building.
"Day and night, but especially at night when you're walking through the building, lights will turn off and on, and you can't explain it," Landes said. "I never feel threatened or scared here. The ghosts, I think, are happy that we're here and that we're doing something."
Landes described the strange events as typical for her and other staff members, with events coordinator Jennifer Kuntz offering ghost tours upon request to visitors.
The Temple often becomes more active after significant events like weddings, which Landes said if she enjoys watching the various cameras throughout the building for ghost orbs or other paranormal happenings.
"We had one that was really interesting — we had a security camera at the bottom of a staircase and then another one that was in the room as you walk past that camera and go in," Landes said. "Two orbs came down the stairs — they were different sizes, but they were beside each other. They turned the corner, and they went through the co-working space, which used to be the Shriners area."
Landes said over the years, multiple ghost-hunting groups visited The Temple to film and find evidence for their investigations.
The most common evidence they find is strange orbs on static cameras, knocking, footsteps and the rare instance of a strange shadow through a doorway.