Palestine Lodge No.31 - Palestine, TX
Posted by: 
WalksfarTX
N 31° 45.845 W 095° 38.086
15R E 250457 N 3517309
Palestine Lodge No.31, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons was chartered on May 1, 1848 by the Grand Lodge of Texas. Since that time it has met continuously in Palestine, Texas.
Waymark Code: WMW52C
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 07/10/2017
Views: 2
Lodge Website
The earliest Masons in the newly created town of Palestine were members of Lothrop Lodge No. 21 in Crockett, Texas. On August 25, 1846 seven of them signed a petition to the Grand Lodge of Texas requesting a charter. What they got instead was a dispensation creating Palestine Lodge No. 22 with Ferdinand Justus vonKirchhain being named the first Worshipful Master. The second Master, Andrew Jackson Fowler who assumed the East for 1847, also became the first Master of Palestine Lodge No. 31 when it was chartered with twenty two Master Masons.
By 1945 the brethren had outgrown the 1934 Masonic Hall and finding a vacant three story building close at hand entered into negotiations to purchase it for ten thousand dollars. To cover the red brick, lodge brother Lawrence B. Weatherly applied stucco that, still in place some 69 years later, is a testament to the expert workmanship of his skill. The following year Brother Weatherly affiliated with the Lodge and became Master in June 1954. Once again the brethren of Palestine Lodge revisited history to name their new building after a former building. And so it was that the new building was named the "Masonic Temple" after that magnificent structure that had been built back in 1878.