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A History of the Thomas Ranken Patton Masonic School for Boys

Thomas Ranken Patton was born in 1824 in the County of Londonderry, Ireland. Because his birth records were not available to him, he selected Dec. 24 as his date of birth. He emigrated in 1844, working in the import business, and in 1852 became a citizen of the United States. He joined the Masons (Union Lodge No. 121, Philadelphia) in 1861 and served as Worshipful Master of his lodge in 1867. He was very successful in his importing and grocery business and founded the Union Trust Company. He was a director of a railroad company and an electric construction company. He also served as manager and treasurer of the Masonic Home of Pennsylvania, founded by Philadelphia brethren, and on the Committee on Masonic Homes.
He married in 1868 and his wife, Ellen, gave birth to a son, Thomas Graham Patton, in March 1869. She died shortly after childbirth, and his son died at age 7. Grief-stricken, Mr. Patton sold his business two years later and spent his time investing his wealth and devoting himself to Masonic activities. He died in 1907 and left an estate, valued at approximately $1 million, to the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania for the establishment of a boarding school for male orphaned children.
As Mr. Patton's will specified, the Grand Lodge did not use the money until 12 years after his death. However, because of the additional land needed to establish the school, the generous gift helped the Grand Lodge determine the location for the Masonic Homes in Elizabethtown, Pa. The Thomas Ranken Patton Masonic Institution for Boys was established on the Rutt family farm property adjacent to the Masonic Homes in 1923 when the cornerstone for the administration building was laid. This building was renamed Patton Hall at a later date. The school formally opened in January 1925 with an enrollment of 14 students. In 1926, the school building, later named Memorial Hall, was completed. Ranken Hall was opened in 1928 as a dormitory.
The facilities included shops for carpentry, machinery and bricklaying (later electrical and electronics); classrooms and a science lab; a library; a tennis court; and a gym. The students participated in sports, competing against local high schools. The boys constructed many projects on campus, including the superintendent's cottage in 1927 and the William Bittle Levis Cottage in 1932. They also completed projects, such as the construction of farm buildings, at the Masonic Homes.
In 1933, Jessie Langdon provided an endowment in honor of her father, Averett Laurens Langdon, to plant more than 1,000 trees on the Patton Campus-most of which were planted by the students. In 1944, the entire senior class of 10 joined the Armed services. In 1953, a carillon was dedicated to the Patton graduates who died while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. The present flagpole is dedicated to lives lost during World War II and the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
In 1971, the school received full certification from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Each year, the students who attended Patton traveled to the grave of Thomas Patton in the Laurel Hill Cemetery at Fairmount Park in Philadelphia to lay a wreath in his memory.
The school stopped offering instructional classes in 1976, and after serving as a residence, closed in a final decree on July 19, 1978. The school closed primarily due to changes in the social security law which made it more possible for orphans to be cared for by a parent, decreasing parents' dependence on the school.
Even before the school closed by decree, Masonic youth groups began using the campus for camps and seminars. This change to youth programs resulted in a need for renovations and a name change to Masonic Conference Center-Patton Campus. The first major renovation was dedicated in 1983, following the formation of the Pennsylvania Youth Foundation (which later merged to become the Pennsylvania Masonic Youth Foundation). Total residential capacity increased from 60 to 168, and an indoor pool was built. Renovations to the gym and other recreational facilities, as well as creating meeting rooms, improved the efficiency of the campus for groups. In 1985, the William Carpenter Chapel was constructed. The 1998 renovation to the facility resulted in the modern facility we know today: the addition to Memorial Hall has a magnificent atrium that preserves the façade of the original old Memorial Hall. It has a multimedia center which facilitates use of the building by groups of all sizes, along with additional break-out rooms for discussion.
Thomas Patton turned his personal tragedy into a legacy to help youth live better lives. That legacy continues today through the use of the Patton Campus and the Pennsylvania Masonic Youth Foundation.

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