The temple votes

A 1955 special election notice names the Masonic Temple itself as the Precinct 30 polling place, resuming a civic role the building had played since the 1930s. The same fall, a “good, clean, established” grocery market was offered for sale at 1100 Harvard.

Voting downstairs, groceries at the corner, apartments above, Masons on Monday nights: at mid-century the building was less a landmark than a small civic ecosystem.