(by editorial board, My Edmonds News, July 22, 2021)
The old Edmonds Opera House, later a skating rink, now home to the Edmonds Masonic Lodge, stands majestically in the center of the block of Dayton Street between 5th and 6th Avenues. The building serves as a symbol of the town’s history and of its present-day significance. Edmonds residents and current Masonic Lodge members Roger Barnstead and Steve Pennington have expressed a great love of the building and of its history. “The building and its members are a ‘Who’s Who’ of Edmonds history,” says Pennington. “George Brackett, several members of the Yost family, Ray V. Cloud, former mayors, business leaders, decorated military members, and a host of interesting characters.” According to Barnstead, some of these “interesting characters” take the form of ghosts and spooks—and he knows where all of them are hidden. I was privy to that and other insider information, compliments of a personal tour with Barnstead. Back in 1906, he tells me, Edmonds was a logging town, and the building originally was constructed as a recreation hall for…
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