MARQUETTE - With "Masonic Center" on the nameplate, perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that the masons who built the downtown Masonic Lodge No. 101 in the 1930s went a little overboard on the masonry.

An ongoing renovation of the two-story, 42,000-square-foot building required significant interior demolition - a long, difficult, drill-bit-dulling process.

"Inside, everything is concrete, and they must have used a mix that made it really, really hard," said Dusty Ferguson, vice president of Menze Construction, which is managing the project. "The concrete walls are 16 inches thick - we had to drill holes before we brought in the jackhammers. Then they put in re-bar that's four inches on center. It was built like a brick ----house."

The Masonic Lodge will keep its office and meeting area on the second floor, but the first floor and basement are being transformed into retail and office space. At one time, the building housed a Montgomery Wards, but there were only two tenants when renovations began.

Renovations include a new elevator and a new entrance to face the back parking lot. There are 30 construction workers on the project, which began in August and is scheduled for completion in early March. Dressler Mechanical and JP Electric are also principal contractors on the project.

There has always been a bit of mystery about the Masons, the largest and oldest fraternal group in the world. The website of the Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Michigan said "Freemasonry is first and foremost a fraternity." Its activities, the site said, "should always be designed to promote friendship, morality and brotherly love."

The term "lodge" itself comes from the structures which the stonemasons built against the sides of the cathedrals during construction in the Middle Ages. In winter, when building had to stop, they lived in these lodges and worked at carving stone.

A NEW FRONT AND a renovated interior will welcome new tenants of the revamped Masonic Lodge building. Apparently a temporary batch plant was erected at the site when it was built in the 1930s, which would help account for the building's incredibly hard and thick concrete.

TIGHTENING A union on a steam valve is Steve Ravanelli of Plumbers and Pipe Fitters Local 506 and Dressler Mechanical. Photos by Jerry Bielicki