About Acca Shriners
ACCA Temple received dispensation to open in Richmond, Virginia on June 9, 1886. At this meeting, the Ritual was read, and the charter members obligated. At the second regular session of Acca Temple on July 7, 1886, officers were elected.
ACCA Shriners is part of the world-wide Shrine Organization that has, as its philanthropy, over 22 facilities that comprise a health care system to treat children with burns, orthopedic challenges, and many other maladies. We treat all children that fall within our areas of specialty and with no concern for the ability of the family to pay.
Our organization grew throughout the years causing us to have many locations, including The Mosque, now the Altria Theater in downtown Richmond.
The Mosque Theater was the 1918 brainchild of Clinton L. Williams, Potentate of the ACCA Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Williams felt ACCA Temple had outgrown its meeting place, so he set out to build a venue that would outshine any other Shriner facility, and thus would create an entertainment palace for the City of Richmond. Designed by architects Marcellus Wright, Sr., Charles M. Robinson and Charles Custer Robinson, the original plans included a 4,600 seat theater, four lounges, six lobbies, 18 dressing rooms, 42 hotel rooms, a gymnasium, locker rooms, a pool, a three-lane bowling alley, offices and a restaurant called “The Mosque Grill.” The theater’s construction price tag was $1.65 million and opened on October 28, 1927. The City of Richmond purchased the Mosque from the Shriners in 1940.
In 1959 ACCA Temple secured 10.5 acres and built the building we still use to this day. Though not a facility as glamourous as The Mosque, we do offer one of the largest and nicest ballrooms in the Richmond area and are proud to have extensive grounds on which many activities to benefit our philanthropy occur.
ACCA Shriners look forward to the future as we endeavor to service children throughout Virginia and offer a fun and festive atmosphere for those whom we are honored to have as our members.
