Pythian Castle: Orphanage, Then Prison Camp
Near Springfield, Missouri
The stone castle sitting off the road in Springfield, Missouri was built in nineteen thirteen by the Knights of Pythias, a fraternal order that ran it as a charitable home for orphans and elderly members whose families had lost a Pythian knight. Springfield won the commission over six other competing cities by selling fifty-three acres to the order for one dollar in nineteen oh nine. It served Pythian orphans and widows until nineteen forty-two, when World War Two changed everything.
German and Italian prisoners of war were assigned here for medical treatment and labor, turning the gothic revival orphanage into an unlikely wartime facility. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places and today operates as a castle tour and event venue, complete with ghost stories.
