The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 48, July 1944 - April, 1945 Page: 422
617 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 24 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
The following valuable contribution on Masonic Lodges in
Texas is made by Dr. S. W. Geiser, of Southern Methodist
University:
A NOTE ON MASONIC LODGES AS TIME-INDICATORS OF A TOWN'S PROSPERITY
One of the most striking phenomena of the advance of the wave of popu-
lation in the settling of the frontier was the chartering and establishment
of Masonic lodges. Even in Mexican Texas, on February 11, 1827, Stephen
F. Austin with six other York-Rite Masons applied to the Yorkino Grand
Lodge of Mexico for a charter of a "Lodge of Union" at San Felipe.' In
1835. Holland Lodge No. 36 (Louisiana) was chartered at Brazoria. The
Masonic Grand Lodge of Texas was instituted in 1837; and during the
days of the Republic, twenty-four lodges were chartered. By June 17, 1861,
this number had grown to 269 and by New Year's Day, 1880, to 515. It
will thus be seen how in the frontier days the fraternity grew by leaps
and bounds. Masons of every settlement with a promise of increase
in prosperity and population applied for charters. With the passing of
time many of these towns diminished in importance and prosperity, and
with this regression the Masonic lodges one by one demised.2
In such later declining towns, the period of prosperity generally fell be-
tween the dates of chartering and demise of the Masonic lodges, which
thus can be used as "time-indicators" of the town's prosperity. A case in
point can be found in the town of Cincinnati in Walker County. The lodge
there (See Table) was chartered in 1846 and demised in 1861; and this
period was that of the greatest prosperity of the settlement. The same
can be demonstrated-to name at random but a few cases-for such settle-
ments as old Gay Hill, Larissa, Magnolia, Navarro, San Andres, and
Washington-on-the-Brazos. It may be safely concluded that such Masonic
dates are frequently safe indicators of the period of prosperity of
towns, extinct or moribund, of present day Texas.3 For brevity's sake I
have included in the Table an alphabetized list of towns with Masonic
lodges, chartered before 1880 but now demised. The data give in abbrevi-
ated fashion the towns, counties, numbers of the lodges, and the periods of
their activity. It is hoped that this list may be a convenient resum6 of data
of occasional use to Texas historians.
1See S. W. Geiser, "Stephen F. Austin Really Leader of Masonry in
Texas," Dallas Morning News, April 9, 1933.
2This is not, of course, invariably true. Onion Creek Lodge No. 220, of
Travis County (chartered in 1858), showed in 1941 practically the same
membership as in 1904.
3Occasionally the end-date of a lodge is not useful as such an indicator.
Thus, the charter of Tyler Lodge No. 50, of Town Bluff, was arrested and
revoked because of un-Masonic practices of members of the lodge. Occa-
sionally the name of a lodge and/or its domicile were changed by the
Grand Lodge, and this complicates matters. A case in point is Little River
Lodge No. 401 (chartered June 4, 1875), domiciled at Little River Academy,
eight miles south of present Temple, in Bell County. In 1879 its name was
changed to Knob Creek Lodge No. 401, and its domicile to Pleasant Val-
ley schoolhouse, two and one-half miles southeast of Temple. In 1885 the
lodge moved to Temple, where its records were later destroyed by fire.422
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 48, July 1944 - April, 1945, periodical, 1945; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146055/m1/466/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.