The History of the Shrine
Shrinedom had its beginning in 1870 in New York City when a group of Masons established a new fraternal organization for Master Masons based on having fun, fellowship, and the Masonic principles of brotherly love, relief and truth. It was then known as "THE ANCIENT ARABIC ORDER OF THE MYSTIC SHRINE" which over time become Shriners of North America and Now Shriners International.
After its initial establishment, the Shrine movement began to spread throughout the United States. By 1878, ther were 425 Shriners in 13 Temples in 8 states. Within ten years, 1888, there were over 7000 Shriners in 48 Temples and by 1900 there were 85,000 Shriners and 82 Temples.
Shrinedom in the two Carolinas did not begin until 1894 with the creation of Oasis Temple in Charlotte, North Carolina. Oasis then became the "Mother" Temple for all of the two Carolinas. The growth of Shrinedom within the Carolinas produced initiates from all across the two Carolinas: from Asheville, Greensboro, Raleigh, Wilmington, Spartanburg, Charleston, Greenville and Columbia. But with this growth came logistical issues of traveling the great distances for Temple meetings and events; not to mention the issues with communicating with the Nobility in a timely and expedient manner. To address these issues new Temples were established across the Carolinas and these were:
- Omar Temple in Charleston, SC in 1907
- Sudan Temple in New Bern, NC in 1916
- Hejaz Temple in Greenville, SC in 1920
- Jamil Temple in Columbia, SC in 1974, and our own
- Amran Temple in Raleigh, NC IN 1976