The Spanish Flu of 1918: A Historical Reflection and Lessons from Masonic Lodges

A catastrophic Spanish flu pandemic spread throughout the world during 1918–1919. In the spring of 1918, an army training center at the Fort Riley Kansas reported the first cases of Spanish flu in the United States. The first reported cases of the Spanish Flu of the virus in Kansas were quite moderate. The Spanish flu took an ominous turn in the fall of 1918 when injured soldiers who contracted the Spanish flu returned to the United States, spreading the illness across urban and rural communities. During this period of the Spanish flu, the freemason lodges served as accessory hospitals to help manage the growing Spanish flu cases across the United States. In this paper, we explore the experiences, challenges, and lessons from Freemason lodges during the Spanish flu to provide context and historical insights into the overlaps between the Spanish Flu and the current COVID-19 pandemic.