HISTORY

Masonry aims to inculcate those virtues which are recognized as prerequisites for a better life. Its teachings include the brotherhood of all men, personal integrity, love of family, justice, tolerance, good citizenship, a charitable spirit, and the freedom of ideas, of religious choice, and of expression. It emphasizes the worth of the individual in society, and demonstrates that this worth is only achieved by the recognition of the corresponding responsibility which must accompany each privilege the individual enjoys.

The earliest Masonic meeting in what is now Lawrence was held by St. Matthew’s Lodge of Andover in January 1823 at the Parker Tavern (also known as the Towne Tavern) which still stands on the Northeast corner of Parker and Andover Streets in South Lawrence, then part of Andover. The first lodge to permanently locate in Lawrence was Grecian Lodge. A preliminary meeting for Organization of this lodge was held in Methuen at the home of Bro. Charles O. Kimball, the first pastor of the Methuen Baptist Church. The lodge was chartered in December 1825 and first met in 1826 in the hall of the Methuen Literary Society. The Lodge ceased working in 1834.

To pick up the thread of this story we need look no further than to the following talk given on September 12, 1872, by Bro. John Stowe: … On the 30th of January 1848, three years after the founding of Lawrence, and five years before it became a city, a meeting of Grecian Lodge was held at the house of Dr. Stephen Huse, in Methuen — Worshipful Stephen Huse in the chair. There were present twelve resident and former members of Grecian Lodge. The charter, (which was granted in 1825, and held in that town, but had for a few years been deposited with the Grand Lodge) was returned, and resumed by the Lodge, and they proceeded to the election of officers, and resumed their work under it. Dr. Stephen Huse was elected Worshipful Master, and eight non-affiliated brethren were proposed for membership. “Closed to meet at Masonic Hall, Merchants’ Row, Essex Street, Lawrence, at 7 o’clock, next Thursday evening.” This hall, having already been prepared in anticipation of its necessity, Grecian Lodge met according to adjournment; opened in due form, and in due time proceeded to ballot for the proposed brethren, who were duly elected, and the order of the Mystic Tie regularly organized in the New City, (so called) with a membership of twenty, twelve original, or charter, and eight admitted brethren, on the evening of February 3d, 1848, within a few months of twenty-five years ago.

Thus began Masonry in Lawrence. It was a day of small things. The promise was not very flattering of great results; but the seed was planted, and the brethren had only to wait in Faith, and to work in Hope and Brotherly Love .… In four years, the Lodge numbered fifty-six members, and having outgrown the capacity of its apartments, a new Hall, of ampler dimensions and better accommodations, was fitted up in City Block, Essex Street and occupied for the first time, Sept. 24th, 1852 .… In twelve years, October 10th, 1860, Grecian Lodge numbered one hundred and seventy-seven members, and, on petition of Stephen Huse and thirteen others residing in Methuen, a dispensation was granted, and John Hancock Lodge was organized. In August, 1861, the petitioners were honourably discharged on demit, and John Hancock Lodge duly constituted in Methuen, with charter, dated Sept. 11th, 1861.

The same year, Sept. 12th 1861, on petition of Jos. W. Smith and thirteen others, a dispensation was granted, and Mt. Sinai Royal Arch Chapter organized, holding their meetings with Grecian Lodge.

About two years later-Grecian Lodge being cumbersome in management, numbering about one hundred and ninety members-Bro. L.A. Bishop and fourteen others petitioned for a new Lodge in Lawrence. Their petition was granted, and Tuscan Lodge organized in 1862 under dispensation, and immediately commenced their labors in the hall of Grecian Lodge in City Block.

The rooms in City Block, ample for one Lodge, ten years before, were found inadequate to the wants of the three bodies now meeting there, and Tuscan Lodge, immediately upon its organization, resolved to have a more suitable place of meeting. It, therefore, secured and fitted up Bay State Hall, on Essex Street, which it occupied in the fall. Mt. Sinai R. A. Chapter also removed there as soon as the hall was completed. Tuscan Lodge was constituted, and received its charter, dated Dec. 10th, 1864; its hall was dedicated and its officers installed by the M. W. Grand Lodge, January 28th, 1863, (almost nine years ago,) and Nov. 9th, of the same year, Grecian Lodge removed to the same apartments.

The same year, May 20th, 5864, on petition of Pardon Armington and nineteen others, a dispensation was granted and Bethany Commandery organized, and chartered Dec. 29th, 5864; they also occupying the same apartments with other Masonic bodies.

Dec. 28th, 5867, on petition of John Stowe and ten others, Lawrence Council of Select, Royal and Super-Excellent Masters was organized under dispensation, and chartered Dec. 9th, 5868, and occupied with the others the apartments of Tuscan Lodge.

There being now in Lawrence over four hundred brethren of the order, it was deemed wise and prudent, if not an actual necessity, that a third Lodge should be erected in Lawrence, and on petition of H. G. Herrick and nineteen others, Phoenician Lodge was granted a dispensation, organized and secured a working place [in the quarters] of Tuscan Lodge. It was chartered, Nov. 5th, 1870, and in September 1871, Grecian Lodge granted five, and Tuscan Lodge eleven demits and honorable discharges to brethren to erect the new lodge; and February 21st, 1872, Phoenician Lodge was duly constituted in full and ample form, according to the ancient usages of the craft, and received its charter; and its officers were installed by the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge .…T he old trouble of lack of room, so common to growing men and institutions, was again experienced, and as early as 1867, less than four years from the dedication of the Hall of Tuscan Lodge, we find the several bodies conferring with each other, in regard to their need of quarters adequate to their rapidly increasing work…

The availability of a parcel of land at the southeast corner of Essex and Lawrence Streets provided the impetus for concerted action by the Masonic bodies of Lawrence in 1867. Four groups each voted to purchase a share of the property on which to erect a Masonic Temple. Each appointed a trustee. The trustees first convened on August 12, 1867 and adopted the name “Lawrence Masonic Association.” They elected officers as follows: John Stow, Tuscan Lodge, president; Geo. W. Chandler, Grecian Lodge, secretary; Rufus Reed, Bethany Commandery, treasurer, and Hezekiah Plummer, Mt. Sinai Chapter, auditor.

The land was acquired August 19, 1867, each body purchasing an undivided one-fourth interest. The trustees soon deemed the property insufficient for their purposes and requested permission to purchase additional frontage on Essex Street. This came to naught, and the records are blank until 1870 when new trustees were appointed–three from each body.

The new board organized on August 1, 1870 and formed a committee “to wait on Messrs. Saunders in relation to hiring apartments in the block they were about to erect on the corner of Appleton and Essex Streets.” The first offer was deemed “exorbitant,” but in April 1871 the parties settled on a rent of $1250 per year. The parcel on Lawrence Street was sold. The trustees adopted the first by-laws on Nov 6, 1871, and Phoenician Lodge was admitted into the Association on payment of one eighth of the $10,000 expense of fitting up the new apartments. Grecian and Tuscan Lodges and Mt. Sinai Chapter each contributed a quarter of the cost and Bethany Commandery the other eighth. The Commandery sublet one room from Association for use as an armory. With expansion the quarters in the Saunders Block eventually encompassed large and small lodge rooms, a banquet hall with kitchen, the armory, and office and storage space.

The records, set down with impeccable penmanship in a leather-bound volume, detail the work of the Association over the next forty years. Meeting nights were assigned. Leases with the Saunders family were negotiated and the rent apportioned to the bodies using the apartments. The various Masonic organizations met in the two upper stories of the Saunders Block, referred to as “Masonic Hall” in the records. The annual rent to be paid by each body was determined by a Committee on Organizations.

Occasionally, use of Masonic Hall by outside groups was requested. By 1874 the Roman Eagle Conclave and the Mutual Benefit Association were using the apartments. In 1875 the trustees voted that “the three lodges may use small hall one night per month for a lodge of instruction.” The Lawrence Masonic Relief Association met there in 1885. Lawrence Council of Royal and Select Masters sponsored a popular band that used the banquet hall on many occasions early in the Twentieth Century. Lawrence Chapter Order of the Eastern Star was established in 1901 and began using Masonic Hall in 1903.

In 1895 the trustees voted to replace the coal stoves in kitchen with gas stoves and to procure Welsbach gas burners to improve the efficiency of the gaslights. “Limited” telephone service was installed in 1904. Masonic Hall may have been something of a firetrap because in December 1889 the trustees voted to install a fire escape as required by the city inspector and to split the cost with the Messrs. Saunders. In 1908 a committee representing the various bodies appeared before the trustees to urge that the apartments be lighted by electricity instead of gas.

Bro. Henry K. Webster, in 1906, brought forward the question of procuring a building to be owned by the Association. The matter was discussed but no action taken. In 1908 the Trustees looked into the possibility of obtaining new apartments in the Bay State Building. A committee formed for that purpose reported that officials of Bay State building had no desire to make the changes to the building that would be necessary to accommodate the Masonic bodies. The issue was again tabled

In December 1909 the trustees learned that the Saunders Block was for sale. Real Estate Agent and Bro. Frank Andrew appeared and offered the property to the trustees if they desired it. The trustees convened again on Christmas Day; their committee reported that they had tried to obtain an option to purchase the building for $180,000 but were informed by Bro. Andrew that the owners had already rejected an offer of $180,000 and would not sell for less than $195,000.

Lawrence Council of Royal and Select Masters had used the apartments for many years as a tenant and was admitted as a member of the Association in 1910. Also in that year the Trustees voted to send letter of protest against running of printing presses on the floor below on evenings and Sundays.

By 1916 there were 1200 “Masons of Lawrence affiliation.” So great was the expansion of membership, the Eleventh Masonic District composed of the Greater Lawrence lodges was established in 1914. A Past Masters Association dates from the same era. Although the Masons enlarged and remodeled their space in the Saunders Block, it became inadequate for the growing lodges and their activities.

Plans finally gelled with the establishment of a building fund. Bro. Henry K. Webster provided the first contribution and the impetus to form a building committee. The idea for a new building was first broached at a meeting of Grecian Lodge on October 22, 1915. Masonic leaders organized a kickoff dinner held at the Armory on April 4, 1916 before a crowd of 750 singing and cigar-smoking brethren.

The trustees voted to seek incorporation in 1888, but nothing was done, perhaps owning to Grand Lodge opposition. In 1910 a committee reported that it had consulted with the Grand Master who knew of no reason why the Association could not be incorporated. The Association was finally incorporated in 1916.

The organizers wasted no time. In April 1916, it purchased three residential properties on Jackson Street between Garden Street and Jackson Court belonging to Dr. George B. Sargent, Dr. N. B. Russell and the Dr. Partridge Gowing Estate. Ground was broken on 24 October 1921. The cornerstone was laid on 29 April 1922. A banquet followed the cornerstone laying, Dean K. Webster acted as toastmaster.

Money was raised by voluntary donations rather than from the sale of stock or bonds. Eleven hundred twenty-eight members pledged $128,000 on a five year payment plan Further fund-raising took place in 1921; an additional $105,000 was pledged by over 1,100 Masons. In an effort to erect a building exclusively dedicated to Freemasonry, the new building was planned without any office or mercantile occupancy. The building committee was comprised of Albert B. Sutherland, David Brown, William Fisher, Dean K. Webster and George H. Woodman. Mr. Brown died before the building was completed. The architect was George G. Adams, a local member of the Fraternity who had a long, successful career as a commercial and residential architect. Brother John A. Peabody was the contractor

The new Temple was dedicated 16 April 1923. On the previous day, services in commemoration of the event were held at the Lawrence Street Congregational Church with a sermon given by Rev. Harry A. Newton. Following the dedication there was a banquet over which Superior Court Judge Bro. Louis S. Cox presided. The furniture in the old apartments was renovated an installed in the new temple.

More space was now available for organizations. Lawrence Lodge of Perfection was organized in 1924. Essex Chapter, Order of DeMolay followed in 1926. The Nineteenth Lodge of Instruction was warranted in 1928. Lawrence Assembly No. 15, Order of the Rainbow for Girls was also established. The White Shrine and the Merrimack Valley Shrine Club also used the Temple.

Each member body appointed or elected three trustees who attended the annual meeting and were the members of the corporation. They in turn elected seven directors who with the four officers constituted the board. Thus there were 21 trustees and 12 directors. The Board elected from its membership a Temple Committee of three members who managed the day to day affairs of the building. Typically the Trustees met once a year and the Directors twice or three times a year.

The final cost of over $300,000 was double the estimated cost in 1916. A mortgage of $120,000 was needed to finance the undertaking. During the years of the Great Depression and World War II the Association struggled with overdue rents. Another fund raising campaign occurred in 1942. After World War II the bodies housed in the Temple enjoyed a period of increasing activity and prosperity. Yet short term borrowing to smooth cash flow was a necessity. A bowling league operated in the Temple by Bros. Adolph McLennan and Harold Winslow in the `40s brought over $3,000 per year into the LMA coffers.

A campaign began to retire the mortgage. Bros. Louis Cox and Dean K. Webster were co-chairmen of the campaign committee, Bros. Walter I. Churchill was executive secretary, and Walter H. Mann was treasurer. A gala mortgage burning dinner with 250 in attendance was held at the temple in November 1948. Rev. Bro. Egbert W. A. Jenkinson invoked the divine blessing. After dinner Bro. Churchill, a past master of Tuscan Lodge who himself had worked untiringly for the Association as a fund raiser in all the campaigns–1916, 1922, 1942 and 1948 — spoke of Dean Webster’s contribution: “Through all these years, 33 in all, through two world wars, great economic disturbances, and many discouraging conditions, our indomitable leader clad with the golden spur of great loyalty and grim determination has been our ever present inspiration and guide. He has led every movement to accomplish the end so much desired and has given generously of his time, talents and money to an unequalled degree.”

Bro. Webster gave a history of the building of the temple and exhorted the brethren: “Now let us make this temple a thing of beauty and a joy forever; a more attractive place for Masons to frequent, a bigger and better place for social and fraternal activities; a constant and living invitation to the worthy, outside our membership, to seek the fellowship of Masons and participate in their labor.”

Masonry in Lawrence continued to flourish for another quarter century. Zion Council Princes of Jerusalem was organized in 1961, making the Temple, with the Lodge of Perfection, home to two bodies of the Scottish Rite. As elsewhere across America, interest in civic affairs and institutions began to tail off in the 1960s. Phoenician Lodge, especially, was feeling the pinch, and in 1979 proposed to combine forces with Tuscan Lodge. Having secured the necessary approval from the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts the establishment of Tuscan-Phoenician Lodge was celebrated on May 1, 1980. Further amalgamation seemed prudent and in 1986 the members of Tuscan-Phoenician Lodge invited Grecian Lodge to work as one lodge. The official consolidation ceremony resulting in a new Lawrence United Lodge took place on May 6, 1987. In similar fashion Mt. Sinai Royal Arch Chapter, Lawrence Council of Royal and Select Masters and Bethany Commandery determined that it was in their best interest to combine with their counterpart organizations in Lowell, and they removed to that city in 1995.

To paraphrase the words of Bro. John Stowe over a century and a quarter ago: “Our order is unchangeable. Whether it lives in obscure rooms or elegant halls, it is the same; it gives stability of character to its members in all that pertains to its fraternal and helpful precepts. In this attractive home, may we hope for new life and joy on our old principles.”

Sources Consulted:

1×1

With thanks to the interest and assistance of Bro. Robert C. Hull for much of the source material used in this historical “journey.” Also thank you to Bro. Stanley I. Kay who collected and compiled a vast amount of factual information about the Temple.

Most of the material included in this historical description, is due to the hard work, as well as research of Frederick N. Nowell, III.

The Lawrence Masonic Temple. By Frederick N. Nowell, III (2000); Churchill, Walter I. and Thomas H. Houghton. “History of Tuscan Lodge” in One Hundredth Anniversary, Tuscan Lodge A.F.&A.M., 1862-1962. Published by the lodge, 1962; Dedication, Lawrence Masonic Temple, Lawrence, Massachusetts, April 16, 1923. Printed by Boothby Press, Lawrence, 1923; New Masonic Temple. c. July 1917; Our Masonic Temple, An Appreciation, 1935; Scott, Dana W., James Houston, and Weston D. Eastman, One Hundredth Anniversary, Phoenician Lodge A.F.&A.M. Published by the lodge, 1970.1x1_1

Chronological Order of Lodges in what is now the City of Lawrence

1823 St. Matthew’s Lodge

1825 Grecian Lodge

1860 John Hancock Lodge

1861 Mt. Sinai Royal Arch Chapter

1862 Tuscan Lodge

1864 Bethany Commandery

1867 Lawrence Council of Select, Royal and Super-Excellent Masters

1870 Phoenician Lodge

The earliest Masonic meeting in what is now Lawrence was held by St. Matthew’s Lodge of Andover in January 1823 at the Parker Tavern (also known as the Towne Tavern) which still stands on the northeast corner of Parker and Andover Streets in South Lawrence, then part of Andover. The first lodge to permanently locate in Lawrence was Grecian Lodge. A preliminary meeting for organization of this lodge was held in Methuen at the home of Bro. Charles O. Kimball, the first pastor of the Methuen Baptist Church. The lodge was chartered in December 1825 and first met in 1826 in the hall of the Methuen Literary Society. The Lodge ceased working in 1834. To pick up the thread of this story we need look no further than to the following talk given on September 12, 1872 by Bro. John Stowe:

…On the 30th of January 1848, three years after the founding of Lawrence, and five years before it became a city, a meeting of Grecian Lodge was held at the house of Dr. Stephen Huse, in Methuen –Worshipful Stephen Huse in the chair. There were present twelve resident and former members of Grecian Lodge. The charter, (which was granted in 1825, and held in that town, but had for a few years been deposited with the Grand Lodge) was returned, and resumed by the Lodge, and they proceeded to the election of officers, and resumed their work under it. Dr. Stephen Huse was elected Worshipful Master, and eight non-affiliated brethren were proposed for membership. “Closed to meet at Masonic Hall, Merchants’ Row, Essex Street, Lawrence, at 7 o’clock, next Thursday evening.” This hall, having already been prepared in anticipation of its necessity, Grecian Lodge met according to adjournment; opened in due form, and in due time proceeded to ballot for the proposed brethren, who were duly elected, and the order of the Mystic Tie regularly organized in the New City, (so called) with a membership of twenty, twelve original, or charter, and eight admitted brethren, on the evening of February 3d, 1848, within a few months of twenty-five years ago.

Mt. Sinai Royal Arch Chapter Organized

On Sept. 12th 1861, by petition of Jos. W. Smith and thirteen others, a dispensation was granted, and Mt. Sinai Royal Arch Chapter organized, holding their meetings with Grecian Lodge.

Tuscan Lodge Formed

About two years later—Grecian Lodge being cumbersome in management, numbering about one hundred and ninety members—Bro. L.A. Bishop and fourteen others petitioned for a new Lodge in Lawrence. Their petition was granted, and Tuscan Lodge organized in 1862 under dispensation, and immediately commenced their labors in the hall of Grecian Lodge in City Block.

Tuscan Lodge Constituted & Bay State Hall Become Home

The rooms in City Block, ample for one Lodge, ten years before, were found inadequate to the wants of the three bodies now meeting there, and Tuscan Lodge, immediately upon its organization, resolved to have a more suitable place of meeting. It, therefore, secured and fitted up Bay State Hall, on Essex Street, which it occupied in the fall.2 Mt. Sinai R. A. Chapter also removed there as soon as the hall was completed. Tuscan Lodge was constituted, and received its charter, dated Dec. 10th, 1864; its hall was dedicated and its officers installed by the M. W. Grand Lodge, January 28th, 1863, (almost nine years ago,) and Nov. 9th, of the same year, Grecian Lodge removed to the same apartments.

Over 400 Members Requires Third Lodge, Phoenician Organized

There being now in Lawrence over four hundred brethren of the order, it was deemed wise and prudent, if not an actual necessity, that a third Lodge should be erected in Lawrence, and on petition of H. G. Herrick and nineteen others, Phoenician Lodge was granted a dispensation, organized and secured a working place [in the quarters] of Tuscan Lodge. It was chartered, Nov. 5th, 1870, and in September 1871, Grecian Lodge granted five, and Tuscan Lodge eleven demits and honorable discharges to brethren to erect the new lodge; and February 21st, 1872, Phoenician Lodge was duly constituted in full and ample form, according to the ancient usages of the craft, and received its charter; and its officers were installed by the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge .… The old trouble of lack of room, so common to growing men and institutions, was again experienced, and as early as 1867, less than four years from the dedication of the Hall of Tuscan Lodge, we find the several bodies conferring with each other, in regard to their need of quarters adequate to their rapidly increasing work …

Officers of Grecian Lodge for the 150th anniversary (1825 – 1975)

Front Row Left to Right: R.W. Eugene G. Oldfield, Wor James G. Johnstone, Bro.Nathan A. Hayward Jr.. Wor Julius W. Emmert, Bro. G. Robert Edgecomb, Wor.Sidney L. Weinberg, R.W. Henry D. Ramm. Second Row Left to Right: Bro. Vernon L. Sewade, Bro. Rudolph Planitzer, Bro. Howard L. Grosser, Bro. Ralph Brouck, Bro. Joseph T. Morley, Bro. Stephen M. Juba Jr.

Tuscan Lodge (1864 – 1980)

Rear, left to right: Organist, Harold A. Lambert; Inside Sentinel, George F. Morgan; Junior Sentinel, James H. Henderson; Senior Steward, Clifton R. Milne; Senior Deacon, Charles F. Dewhirst, Jr,; Junior Deacon, Walter A. Huebner; Tyler, John S. Neff; Relief Comm. Wor. William Turner. Front, left to right: Treasurer, Wor. Charles F. Dewhirst; Assoc. Marshal, Wor. Walter R. Vogt; Senior Warden, Raymond W. Bachmann; Master, Leonard H. Crouch; Junior Warden, Robert W. Neil, Sr.; Chaplin, Ralph W. Logan; Secretary, Rt. Wor. Thomas H. Houghton. Missing: Wor. Ralph P. Lever; Marshal; Rev. Charles A. Shields Jr. Assoc. Chaplain.

Lawrence United Lodge Merged: May 6, 1987

Leonard H. Crouch 1987, 88

Albert J. Reynolds 1989

Peter D. Bliven 1990, 91, 92

James H. Henderson 1993, 94

Michael P. Pappas 1995, 01, 02

Gregory A. Freitas 1996, 97

Harry C. Holman 1998

G. Robert Edgecomb 1999, 00

William E. Higton 2003

Grecian Lodge Chartered: December 14, 1825

James G. Johnstone 1962, 1963

Michael P. Pappas 1967, 2001,2002

John R. Hay 1972

Raymond Hammer, Jr 1974

William Hayward 1975

G. Robert Edgecomb 1978

Vernon Sewarde 1980

William H. Patterson 1986, 1987

Tuscan Lodge

Leonard H. Crouch 1962, 1963, 1978

Robert W. Neil, Sr. 1966, 1967

James H. Henderson 1971

George F. Morgan 1972

John A. MacKenzie 1973, 1974

George H. Green 1975, 1979

Phoenician Lodge

Stanley I. Kay 1964, 1965

John H. Campbell 1967

Albert J. Reynolds 1970, 1977

Tuscan-Phoenician Lodge

Leonard H. Crouch 1981, 1986, 1987

Albert J. Reynolds 1983

John A. MacKenzie 1984, 1985