USA > Washington DC > History of the Grand lodge and of freemasonry in the District of Columbia : with biographical appendix > Part 13
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IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Among the Masonic events of the year 1910 the open-air religious service which took place at Mt. St. Albans Sunday afternoon, September 25, is deserving of special notice. In response to an invitation from the Rt. Rev. Alfred Harding, Bishop of Washington, Grand Master George C. Ober issued a call to the Master Masons of the jurisdiction to attend him on that occasion. Favored with ideal weather, approximately three thousand five hundred members of the Fraternity, the largest number ever gathered in this jurisdiction for a public demonstration, assembled at the intersection of Wisconsin and Massachusetts Avenues, and escorted by the five local commanderies of Knights Templar, and headed by a section of the Marine Band, marched to the Peace Cross in Cathedral Close and in company with a large concourse of visitors took part in the beautiful and impressive service of the Episcopal Church, in the course of which the Right Reverend Brother, Bishop Harding, made an address and Rev. Brother J. Hen- ning Nelms, Rector of the Church of the Ascension, delivered the sermon, the dominant note throughout being the co-opera- tion which should exist between the Church and the Masonic Order.
The last charter for the formation of a lodge during the first century of the existence of the Grand Lodge was or- dered to issue at the Annual Communication of December 21, 1910, and was in response to a petition signed by sixty-five Master Masons in good standing, to open and hold a lodge to be known as Mt. Pleasant Lodge, No. 33, in the northwestern section of the city. The petition, which was recommended by Stansbury Lodge, No. 24, nominated as the first three officers Bros. Richard C. Lewis, Charles H. Bradley, and Edwin Al- len Swingle as Master, Senior Warden, and Junior Warden, respectively. This lodge invades a practically unbroken field in the Greater Washington and there is every reason to pre- dict for it a prosperous career.
During this year the Committee on Centennial Observance, having previously been given full authority, perfected the general arrangements for the fitting celebration of the one
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HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY
hundredth anniversary of the birth of the Grand Lodge, and at the date of publication are carefully working out the details of the series of events contemplated.
From the time of the actual initiation of the movement to give prominence to this event there was in evidence a strong undercurrent of sentiment that the celebration should be pitched on a higher plane than is usual, and no pains nor ex- pense spared to make it in every way commensurate with the dignity and importance of the jurisdiction.
The plans of the Committee as finally perfected on the eve of publication embody the following arrangements and cover a period of three days :
1. A general reception at the new Masonic Temple Satur- day evening, February 18, 1911.
2. A religious service in Belasco Theater Sunday after- noon, February 19, 1911 (the actual date of birth), at which it is proposed to have addresses by men of national reputation and recognized eminence and learning, who are members of the Fraternity.
3. A session of the Grand Lodge the morning of the 20th of an historical and reminiscent character.
4. On the evening of the last-named date a banquet in honor of the visiting Grand Masters.
Among the brethren who are expected to be in attendance are the President of the United States and the Grand Masters of seventy-eight Grand Lodges, representing some two million Master Masons.
The Committee is as follows : E. St. Clair Thompson, B. B. French Lodge, No. 15, chairman; Charles J. James, Ana- costia Lodge, No. 21; Thomas C. Noyes, Temple Lodge, No. 32; Claude F. King, Temple Lodge, No. 32,; Andrew Wil- son, Benjamin B. French Lodge, No. 15; Roe Fulkerson, Harmony Lodge, No. 17, and Luther F. Speer, Columbia Lodge, No. 3, with the following subcommittees: Printing, invitation, and entertainment, Charles J. James; reception, Claude F. King; publicity, Thomas C. Noyes; religious serv-
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SECOND "CENTRAL" MASONIC HALL, SOUTHWEST CORNER NINTH AND D STREETS, N. W Home of the Grand Lodge and a number of subordinate Lodges from 1855 to 1870.
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IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
ices, Andrew Wilson; special representative Grand Lodge, L. F. Speer ; banquet, Roe Fulkerson.
A verbatim report of these several events will be published as an appendix to the Grand Lodge Proceedings of 1911, and probably also in pamphlet form for free distribution.
Thus is the history of Freemasonry in the District of Co- lumbia brought to date. What the future holds of prosperity and reverse is known only to the great I Am, nor should we care to lift the vail. Suffice it that on the eve of the one hun- dredth anniversary of the institution of the Grand Lodge we may felicitate ourselves on a magnificent record of achieve- ment, and thus inspired it is for us to highly resolve that the precious heritage of a united, harmonious, and powerful juris- diction which has come down to us shall ever remain a sacred trust and be transmitted unimpaired to our successors.
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HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY
CHAPTER XIII.
MEETING PLACES OF THE FRATERNITY.
WHERE THE ALTARS OF THE GRAND AND SUBORDINATE LODGES OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA HAVE BEEN ERECTED DURING THE CENTURY PRECEDING THE PRESENT TEMPLE MOVEMENT.
"Men, my Brothers, men, the Workers, ever reaping something new; That which they have done but the earnest of the things that they shall do."-TENNYSON.
AS THE MANNER in which a man is housed may usually be considered to measurably express the degree of prosperity he enjoys, so also is it possible to accurately gauge the gain or loss, the success or failure, of an organization by the character of its homes. Freemasonry presents no exception to this rule, and in the story of the many meeting places of the Craft in the District of Columbia during the century just closed there lies so complete and clear a history of the material vicissitudes of the Fraternity as to warrant the devotion of a chapter to so much of the subject as covers the period from the beginning until the inauguration of the movement which resulted in the magnificent Temple of today, paying es- pecial attention at this time to those buildings in which the Grand Lodge has found a succession of homes or has met on emergent occasions, and glancing hastily at the earlier subor- dinate lodge buildings as they relate to the growth of the Order.
The march of improvements has swept away some few of
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IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
these structures, yet there remain a remarkable number- veritable landmarks-which stand as mute witnesses to the progress of Freemasonry in our midst, and unfold a tale which he that runs may read.
The earlier lodges of Georgetown are known to have met in private houses, but the first definite location of a Masonic lodge within the present limits of the District is that of Fed- eral Lodge, No. 15, of Maryland (later No. 1 of this juris- diction), which in 1793 met in a room specially fitted for its use in the residence of one of the members, on New Jersey Avenue, just south of the Capitol, and now included in the site of the House of Representatives Office Building. In 1796, desiring a more central location, this lodge moved to a small hostelry, known as the " Little Hotel," on the north side of F Street, near Fourteenth, N. W., where they found not only quarters for their meetings but likewise convenient re- freshment, and where they remained for about eight years.
Columbia, No. 35, of Maryland (later our No. 3), whichi came into existence in 1802 and was largely composed of Treasury employés, found a temporary home in a building known as Lovell's Hotel, on Pennsylvania Avenue between Fourteenth and Fifteenth Streets, N. W., but united in 1804 with Federal, in the first Masonic building enterprise in the District. This consisted of the purchase of part of Lot 14. Square 323, 23 by 50 feet, on Eleventh Street, N. W., just south of Pennsylvania Avenue, and the erection thereon of a two-story brick building, known as "Union Lodge Room." The second floor, fitted up for lodge purposes and originally reached by an outside stairway on the south side, was used by Federal and Columbia for over twenty years, and also by Leb- anon, after its birth in 1811. Here, too, the Grand Lodge, upon its formation, found a home for a number of years. In addition to its Masonic use, the building was the headquarters of the Boards of Aldermen and Common Council, and also housed the old Washington Library and Vine Lyceum Society. In later years it was occupied by the colored Masons, and with- in a comparatively few years was demolished to make room for
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the new City Post-Office. Some idea of the condition of affairs in the city in the early days may be gathered from the fact that in 1824 Washington R. A. Chapter, No. 1, took steps to induce the other Masonic bodies meeting in the build- ing to join with them in causing to be made a " gravel footway from this Hall east to the middle of Eleventh Street, and north to the south side of Pennsylvania Avenue. "
Washington Naval Lodge, No. 41, of Maryland (now our local No. 4), which was warranted in 1805, found rented quarters on Seventh Street, S. E., near the Navy Yard gate. The house, a small two-story brick, somewhat modernized exteriorly, still stands and is occupied as a dwelling, known as 1129 Seventh Street, S. E., and is a fair sample of the honest, sturdy workmanship of the early part of the last century. The upper floor was used for strictly lodge purposes and the lower as a school, the school teacher, frequently the widow or orphan child of a deceased Mason, attending to the care of the lodge room in lieu of rent.
The Georgetown lodge, reviving in 1806 under the style and title of Potomac, No. 43, of Maryland, located in the residence of Valentine Reintzel, the Master, and afterward the first Grand Master of the District-a three-story brick dwelling on the west side of Jefferson Street, between the canal and Water Street. This landmark was destroyed by fire in 1857. The growth of the lodge in a few years de- manding more commodious quarters, overtures were made to the Corporation of Georgetown looking to the joint erection at the Market Space of a building which might serve as a Town House and Masonic Hall, but, failing in this, a lot was leased on the west side of Jefferson Street, just north of the canal, and the cornerstone of a building laid by Potomac Lodge, in ample Masonic form, October 18, 1810. This building, still standing, was in the possession of and used by the lodge until 1840.
By way of recapitulation, then, we find the five lodges which took part in the formation of the Grand Lodge in 1810-11, located as follows: Federal and Columbia, at the Union
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Lodge Room, on Eleventh Street, N. W .; Washington Naval, in leased quarters on Seventh Street, S. E .; Potomac, in its own hall on Jefferson Street, Georgetown, and Brooke Lodge, in Alexandria, Va.
The Grand Lodge naturally found its first home in Union Lodge Room, but as early as 1816 a movement was started looking to the procuring of a more suitable Masonic building, but the Grand Lodge frowning upon the project it " died a-borning," and the next development in this line was the erection, by Naval Lodge, No. 4, of a two-story brick build- ing on the northwest corner of Fifth Street and Virginia Avenue, S. E., in 1820-1, at a cost of $3,327.01. This un- pretentious structure, located in the center of the most popu- lous section of the Hill, was not only the home of Naval, and Union Lodge, No. 6, during its life, but also for a number of years supplied quarters for a school room for many of our older citizens of Capitol Hill.
For the first half century of the existence of the Grand Lodge, the distances between the several sections of the city being great, the roads of the worst, and the means of trans- portation the most primitive, the communications, both regular and special, were frequently held in the different lodge rooms. east, west, and central, and even Alexandria, as a matter of accommodation to all the members, and thus, altho from time to time acquiring some proprietary interest in certain rooms as headquarters, the Grand Lodge led a nomadic exist- ence from its origin until the occupation of the Temple at Ninth and F Streets, N. W., and it may be noted in passing that other than lodge rooms were sometimes used on emergent occasions, as we find a meeting opened February 26, 1826, in the City Hall, on the First Degree, for the purpose of proceed- ing to St. John's Church, to listen to a discourse on." Wash- ington," and at another time a meeting opened in this same church to attend a cornerstone laying. These instances need not be multiplied, but uncover a condition of affairs unknown at present.
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In 1826 the southwest corner of D and Four-and-a-half Streets, N. W. (John Marshall Place), was selected and pur- chased as the site for a new Temple, the recent erection of the City Hall in that neighborhood commending it as a proper location. The deed to the property, which was purchased of B. O. Tyler, was made to Andrew Tate, Jacob A. Bender, W. W. Seaton, and Wm. Hewitt, the Masters, respectively, of Lodges 1, 3, 7, and 9. The cornerstone was laid September 19, 1826, with elaborate ceremonies. The Grand Lodge was opened in ample form in St. John's Church, and proceeded to the site, escorted by a procession of so varied and digni- fied a character and so unique withal as to deserve detailed description, and no apology is needed for reproducing in extenso the order of arrangement, which was as follows :
Tylers of Lodges Nos. 1, 3, 7, and 9, with drawn swords. Two Stewards, with white rods. Entered Apprentice Masons. Fellows of the Craft. Master Masons. Junior Deacons of Lodges. Senior Deacons. Secretaries. Treasurers. Past Junior Wardens.
Past Senior Wardens. Past Masters. Masters of Lodges.
Members and Officers of Washington Royal Arch Chapter.
The Grand Chapter of the District of Columbia. Music. Grand Tyler and Grand Steward. Two Stewards, with white rods.
Reverend Clergy of the District of Columbia. Architect of the Public Buildings. Assistants Postmaster-General. Commissioner of the General Land Office. Register of the Treasury of the United States. Auditors of the Treasury. Treasurer of the United States. Comptrollers of the Treasury.
Commissioners of the Navy, with their Secretary. Senior Naval Officer at the seat of Government.
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Topographical Engineer. Chief Engineer of the United States. Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the United States, with the General Staff of the Army at the City of Washington. Librarian of Congress. Members and Officers of Congress. Functionaries of Foreign Governments. Heads of Departments, including the Postmaster General. Members of the Board of Common Council. President and Secretary of that Board. Mayors of Alexandria and Georgetown. Mayor and Register of the City of Washington. Grand Pursuivant, with drawn Sword.
Master Builders of the Edifice, with trowels, planes, &c. (each with his appropriate tool). Architect of the Work.
The Golden Plumb, Level, Square, Compasses, and Mallet, each borne by a Master Mason. A Master Mason, with the Cornucopia. Two Master Masons, with Cups-one with Wine, the other Oil. The Corinthian, Ionic, and Doric Lights, borne by three Master Masons. Two Stewards, with white rods. Deacons of the Grand Lodge. Past Grand Secretaries and Treasurers. Grand Secretary and Grand Treasurer. BIBLE (Borne by a Past Master, with a Steward on each side). Grand Chaplain and Orator. The Book of Constitutions, borne by a Master Mason. General Committee to superintend the Building, and Committee of Arrangements. Past Grand Wardens. Grand Wardens, bearing the Ionic and Doric Orders. Past Deputy Grand Masters. Deputy Grand Master, bearing the Corinthian Order. The Globe, borne by a Master Mason. Past Grand Masters. A Herald, with a Golden Rod.
The Grand Master, attended by a Herald on each side, with a Golden Rod. Grand Sword Bearer. Two Stewards, with Rods. Judges of the several Courts of the District of Columbia. Marshal of the District and his Deputies. Clerks of Courts of the District with their Assistants. Officers and members of Literary and other Societies. Professors and Students of Seminaries of Learning. Military and Naval Officers not before enumerated. Citizens and Strangers.
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The stone was placed by the then Grand Master, John N. Moulder, assisted by his officers, and the oration delivered by Past Grand Master W. W. Seaton, the exercises being in- terspersed by appropriate musical selections, rendered by a choir of ladies and gentlemen and by a band. Upon the con- clusion of the ceremonies, and after "three cheers by the assembled multitude," the procession proceeded to the City Hall, and partook of a collation.
This Temple, originally known as "Central," and later as " Free-Masons" Hall, which for a comparatively short period was the home of the several bodies mentioned and the Grand Lodge, is still standing, a three-story structure, and has been for many years used as an office building. At the time of its completion, the upper story was used for Masonic purposes and the remainder was sub-let. Small as the building appears to our modern eyes, it is of interest to note that it was the scene of the inaugural ball ushering in Andrew Jackson's second administration, in 1833, and within its walls was also held one of the three inaugural balls marking the induction of the first Harrison into the Presidential office.
In December, 1827, Masonry entered the as yet unbroken field of the old First Ward, Hiram Lodge, No. 10, being instituted and finding quarters in the eastern edifice of the famous old Seven Buildings, northwest corner Pennsylvania Avenue and Nineteenth Street, N. W., a building which had been used by President Madison as a residence for a time, while the White House was being rebuilt after its destruction by the British. Subsequently, however, the Town Hall, over the Western Market, in the triangular reservation bounded by Pennsylvania Avenue, Twentieth and I Streets, and facing Twentieth Street, was used as a meeting place until 1846. This building was a wooden, two-story structure, the upper floor being reached by an exterior stairway, on which, it is said, candidates were obliged to wait the pleasure of the lodge, no matter what the weather.
The Fraternity was now entering upon troublous times. The anti-Masonic wave was gathering force and sweeping
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YELVERTON P. PAGE, GRAND MASTER, 1863.
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over the country, and this jurisdiction was not spared. The decade between 1830 and 1840 witnessed the serious crippling of the little band, the revenues were greatly reduced and the meeting of the obligations incurred in the building at Four- and-a-Half and D Streets became a matter of serious and increasing difficulty. In 1835 the trouble culminated. Liens were on the building, and those who held them were threaten- ing to enforce; the lodges were even in debt for the furniture in use, and the outlook was, indeed, gloomy. Under these circumstances, the lodges owning the premises ordered their trustees to convey the property in trust to Grand Master Wmn. W. Billing, with authority to sell the same, and apply the proceeds to the liquidation of the debts, and if any surplus remained to divide it among the lodges interested. The prop- erty was thus conveyed to Brother Billing, February 17, 1835, and on the following day by him conveyed to Bro. John Purdy, in fee simple, the consideration being that said Purdy should fully pay and satisfy all claims, provided said claims did not exceed the sum of $5,000. Brother Purdy, then, hav- ing discharged the debts, on February 20, 1835, executed a lease for ninety-nine years to Grand Master Billing, his ex- ecutors, administrators, or assigns, by which, in consideration of $60 annual rental and certain agreements and covenants, the Fraternity might have perpetual right of occupancy of the third floor of the building. On May 5, 1835, Grand Master Billing offered to assign the leasehold to the Grand Lodge, with the understanding that that body should assume the pay- ment of the annual rental of $60, subject to the terms and conditions on which the property was held by him. While this course was recommended by a committee, the Grand Lodge took no action that is of record, but for a period of years, the leasehold still remaining in Brother Billing's name, the rents were collected through the Grand Secretary and Grand Treasurer, and the Grand Lodge was in virtual control. and this is the only instance in the history of the local Craft, until the taking over of the present Temple in 1910, where even an attempt was made to vest title to real estate in the
IO
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HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY
Grand Lodge. On December 24, 1842, W. W. Billing as- signed his trust to Abraham Butler, Joel Downing, and Na- thaniel Mulliken, with the consent of the Masonic bodies in- terested. The lease, however, had already become forfeited by reason of non-payment of rent, and the lessor, Brother Purdy, entered into possession. This action appears to have awakened the lodges involved; an injunction was obtained to restrain Purdy from further proceedings, and a special con- vention was held February 13, 1843, when it was resolved to make over to the Grand Lodge, for its use and benefit and for the use and benefit of the subordinate lodges, all right. title, claim, or interest which said lodges had in or to said Masonic Hall. But it was too late. On March 30th, follow- ing, the cause was heard on the bill and the answer of Purdy, and was dissolved and the bill dismissed, and Brother Purdy entered into quiet possession of the premises. Carrying the story of this episode at once to its conclusion it may be men- tioned that charges were preferred against Brother Purdy for his actions in connection with the loss of title, but the charges were not pressed, and the whole matter laid dormant for thirteen years, when a very complete report of the whole transaction was brought in by a committee, headed by the late B. B. French, in 1858, which appeared to exonerate Brother Purdy from blame, and while the Grand Lodge again failed of action, the incident then and there closed.
After the removal of the injunction, the Masonic tenants were literally set out on the street. In this emergency the Grand Master, Robert Keyworth, had some of the furniture moved and stored, and called a convention of the interested bodies, which met " in a room near Brother Greer's printing office." The convention authorized the sale at auction of the fragments of furniture still remaining unstored, and directed the division of the proceeds among the lodges, which, having been done, Brother Keyworth, on his own responsibility, found quarters in a building on the northwest corner of Pennsyl- vania Avenue and Twelfth Street. This room was fitted up with the furniture saved from the old hall, and Lodges 1 and
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7 agreed to occupy it jointly with the Grand Lodge, No. 9 having, in the meantime, found quarters in the old Circus Building, now Havener's Bakery, on C Street, N. W., near Four-and-a-Half. This separation gave rise to considerable controversy as to the proper division of the furniture, which lasted for quite a period, but is not of sufficient importance to follow in detail.
While these troubles were being experienced by the centrally located lodges, Potomac Lodge, of Georgetown, had sold their property on Jefferson Street, but continued to rent the same room until 1842, when they bought a house on Washington Street (now Thirtieth), opposite to the Union Hotel, the third story of which they fitted up as a lodge room and occu- pied for the next twelve years.
St. John's Lodge, No. 11, chartered December 27, 1845, in the midst of these troublous times, found a fairly convenient home in the building on the northeast corner of Four-and-a- Half Street (John Marshall Place) and Pennsylvania Avenue, known as " Odeon Hall," which is still standing, where they remained for some years. There is some slight evidence that Nos. 1 and 9 also met in this building in 1844, but this lacks verification.
Hiram, also, during the year 1846 found a new home in what was known as " Smith's Stable," Nineteenth Street, be- tween Pennsylvania Avenue and I Street, N. W. During their occupancy this building burned, but was immediately re- placed by the structure which now stands on the site.
In the same years the upper floor of the old Medical College building at Tenth and E Streets was occupied by the Grand Lodge and several of the subordinate lodges, and in 1847 an offer was made to sell the upper floor to the Fraternity. This was not acted upon, but by 1849 Nos. 1, 7, 9, and 12 were meeting here. Increasing prosperity and comparatively rapid growth soon, however, made the brethren restive in these un- satisfactory quarters, much too contracted and reached by a "rickety, dirty, and unlighted stairway," and in 1850 a com- mittee was appointed to devise ways and means to erect a
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