Appendices
Sources, image credits, and more for each article in this issue
The State of the Lodge · Listen, My Brethren · Blue Plate, Blue Lodge
The State of the Lodge
Grand Lodge of Indiana Recapitulation Statements, Mystic Tie Lodge No. 398, 2017–2025.
Mystic Tie Lodge No. 398 membership records (current count and member ages).
Masonic Service Association of North America, state-by-state membership table (United States and Indiana, 2018–2023).
Social Security Administration, 2023 actuarial life tables (projections).
Listen, My Brethren
Grand Lodge of New Hampshire, “Cheswell Painting unveiling,” event announcement for July 10, 2026.
New Market Historical Society, “Wentworth Cheswill Sculpture Project.”
New England Historical Society, article on Wentworth Cheswill.
Historical marker text (2007), published in the Exeter News-Letter; Historical Marker Database.
New Hampshire Union Leader, coverage of the July 10, 2026 portrait unveiling.
Portrait of Wentworth Cheswill: RW∴ Ryan J. Flynn, commissioned by the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire, unveiled July 10, 2026, New Hampshire State House.
Illustration of the ride: Lisa Cordner; cover art for John Herman, Wentworth Cheswill’s Ride: Chasing a Would-Be American Folk Hero.
Linoprint: John Herman, as published in John Herman, “A Toast to Wentworth Cheswill,” New Hampshire Magazine, 2021.
Blue Plate, Blue Lodge
Mystic Tie Lodge No. 398 membership records (raising dates).
Obituary of Charles Frank Laughner, Dignity Memorial / Crown Hill Funeral Home, November 2020.
Michael Stern and Jane Stern, “Cafeteria,” The New Yorker, August 1, 1988.
Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, “Laughner’s Cafeterias, 1888–2010.”
Indianapolis Business Journal, “Laughners exit restaurant business after 122 years with Loon Lake Lodge closure,” August 17, 2010; and “Cafeterias still have cherished place in local dining scene,” 2018.
Indianapolis Monthly, “The Hoosierist: Initial Finding,” October 2011; Hoosier History Live, November 23, 2013.
Jane and Michael Stern, “Dining in Indianapolis,” Roadfood/Gourmet, 1996.
Rashika Jaipuriar, “Loon Lake Lodge entertained Indy diners for a decade,” Indianapolis Star, republished January 29, 2026.
Indiana Historical Society, W.H. Bass Photo Company Collection, “Laughners Dairy Lunch and Restaurant” (Bass #280266-F).
Laughner’s Steer-In. Around 1960 Lloyd Laughner bought a drive-in at 5130 East 10th Street that had opened in the early 1930s as a frozen custard stand. He reopened it on August 22, 1960, as Laughner’s Steer-In, a name meant to signal its beef specialties, and added indoor seating and parking for carhop service. It was popular but not profitable, and in 1964 it was sold to Harold Phillips. A Laughner’s cafeteria stood across the street at 5115 East 10th, one of the five locations listed in the chain’s “5 Delicious Locations” advertisement. The drive-in carries on today as the Historic Steer-In.
MCL: the other Laughner cafeteria. In 1950 Charles O. McGaughey and George Laughner, a cousin of the Laughner’s founder, opened their first cafeteria at 38th Street and Sherman Drive. They called it McLaughner’s, and the sign out front made a joke of the initials: “Romans say MCL / We say 1150.” George Laughner retired in 1973, and the McGaughey family has owned the company outright since 1984. Every Laughner’s cafeteria has closed; MCL is still serving.
Brother Charles Frank Laughner: obituary portrait, Crown Hill Funeral Home / Dignity Memorial, November 2020.
Laughners Dairy Lunch and Restaurant: Bass Photo Co. Collection, Indiana Historical Society (Bass #280266-F).
Laughner’s, Indianapolis: shared in Indy Nostalgia (Facebook); original source unknown.
Laughner Cafeteria postcard: vintage postcard, publisher unknown. Shared by Geoffrey Grover in Indy Nostalgia (Facebook), August 6, 2022.
“5 Delicious Locations”: Laughner’s Cafeterias newspaper advertisement, date unknown. Shared by Don Jones in Indy Nostalgia (Facebook), October 18, 2024.
McLaughner’s Cafeteria postcard, front and back: Les Anderson “Mister Color,” circa 1965. The Indiana Album: Evan Finch Collection.
Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, “Steer-In.”
Joan Hostetler, “Then and Now: The Historic Steer-In, 5130 E. Tenth Street,” Historic Indianapolis, March 31, 2011.
Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, “MCL Cafeterias.”
The Indiana Album, “McLaughners Cafeteria, Indianapolis, Indiana, circa 1965,” Evan Finch Collection.
Indianapolis Business Journal, “MCL stays fresh as cafeteria rivals slide into decline.”