I have a backlog of requests — including several shopping cart orders — that have been held up because our storage area at Indiana Freemasons Hall has been inaccessible to me due to both of the Hall’s elevators being out of commission. This situation started back in November (possibly in late October, I can’t find the emails right now) and took several months to resolve, at least partly because the elevators are in one case original to the building (1909) and in the other case a 1950’s era replacement using a refurbished car, controls, and elevator machine that had come out of a department store in downtown Indianapolis. Finding parts for both of these elevators is often an exercise in patience and near-futility — one of the elevators needed a part a couple of years ago that literally had to be cast from a special metal that almost nobody uses anymore, at least not for that purpose.
The repair process was dealt a setback due to a tragic death in the building superintendent’s family at right about the same time, which took him out of state for a couple of weeks, and left the whole situation sitting, unresolved, until he was able to return. I can hardly blame him under the circumstances, and nobody else is, either.
But getting beyond the purely technical and personal problems with getting the elevators repaired…
Due to the elevator problem, I was unable to get to our storage area on the fourth floor because I simply can’t climb that many stairs anymore, and certainly wasn’t in a position to climb back down with hands full of merchandise, either. So all of these requests and orders hung fire waiting on the elevator repairs.
I can report that the elevators WERE repaired, finally, in late February, and were waiting for state-required inspections before they could be used by the public. Those inspections were done last week and the elevators passed, and I now have access to our storage area again.
So if you are waiting for an order (and there are a couple that date from about the time the elevators went down), or had made a request either before or after that period that I have not yet fulfilled or responded to, please accept my apologies for the delay and be aware that I will be trying to get all of that backlog dealt with over the next couple of weeks.
We are also planning to move TMS’s property out of the Hall and into a brand new, climate-controlled secure warehouse near my home. This will speed up my ability to handle such requests in the future (as well as cost the Society less money in rent), as over time I have spent less and less time at Freemasons’ Hall due to no longer being connected with the Masonic groups that meet there. In hindsight, we probably should have made this move several years ago, but until the beginning of 2017 I was still in the Hall on a fairly regular basis.
I would like again to thank the brethren for their patience and apologize for the long wait some of you have experienced in getting your items.
Sincerely and fraternally,
Nathan Brindle, Secretary-Treasurer
The Masonic Society