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Albert Winslow Ryerson
Born: 1872 in Hollis, New Hampshire. Died: 1931
Albert W. Ryerson was a businessman and 32° Freemason. He was born in Hollis, New Hampshire to John and Evelyn Ryerson and raised in Concord, Massachusetts. He drove a dog cart for transcendentalist philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson from whom he acquired a keen interest in philosophy and an open attitude toward sex. He later moved to Boston in 1893 and married Vida E. F. Marsh with whom he had three children: Martin Albert, Grace Louise, and Winslow George. He next moved to Detroit in 1896. In his travels as a rubber company representative he began to purchase and stockpile unusual books with the intention of starting a bookstore.
An active Freemason, Ryerson was a member of Detroit's Free and Accepted Masonic Lodge No. 2, a knight of Detroit Commanders No. 1, a 32° Prince of the Royal Secret in the Scottish Rite, and an occasional contributor to Masonic periodicals.
In December 1917, Ryerson and two others purchased a bookstore at 131 West Grand Avenue re-naming it the Universal Book Store with Ryerson serving as the store's general manager. They later opened two additional branches in Detroit at 57 Grand River and 104 Woodward Avenue and eventually opened a store in Toledo, Ohio. The slogan of the Universal Book Store was "The Stores That Keep Books Others Don't."
Mr. Ryerson was a republican in his political views and an active worker in the ranks of the party, being one of the five men who in 1918 had charge of Governor Sleeper’s campaign and were instrumental in securing for him the Wayne county vote. Fraternally he was identified with the Masons and had attained high standing in the order. He was a member of Detroit Lodge, No. 2, F. & A. M.; Detroit Commandery, No. 1, K. T.; Michigan Sovereign Consistory, A. & A. S. R., in which he attained the thirty-second degree; and Moslem Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He was a member of the New England Historical Society of Boston and the Long Island Historical Society of Brooklyn, New York, and was also a writer of ability, being the author of the Ryerson Memorials, a work upon which he spent ten years, and also of the Blanchard Memorials. To the energetic nature and strong mentality of such men as Mr. Ryerson was due the development and ever increasing prosperity of Detroit. Well descended and well bred, his career was one of great activity, filled with incidents and results. In every sphere of life in which he has acted he has left an indelible impress through his ability and tireless energy, which never falls short of the attainment of its purpose. Upon all vital questions he was well informed and kept abreast with the best thinking men of the age concerning the political, sociological and economic questions of the day. He studied broadly and thought deeply and association with him meant expansion and elevation.
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Affiliation to the O.T.O. 13 April 1919
Front of O.T.O. Initiation Application 24 November 1919
Reverse of O.T.O. Initiation Application 24 November 1919
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