1989 - Chalk Mountain Lodge #894 - Chalk Mountain, TX
N 32° 09.255 W 097° 54.470
14S E 602989 N 3558055
Chalk Mountain Lodge No. 894, A.F. & A.M. is located at 327 Somervell County Rd 198, Chalk Mountain, TX. This 1989 lodge incorporates their original lodge, which was previously the second floor on a nearby store and is again here.
Waymark Code: WM1CDKR
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 08/02/2025
Views: 0
While the cornerstone reads "Moved May 6, 1989", it's referring to the second floor, which was moved here when the building was constructed. A 2022 Texas Historical Marker out front explains:
Fourteen charter members organized Chalk Mountain Masonic Lodge on Dec. 8, 1904. Joe Dotson was elected the first Worshipful Master. Lodge member J.H. Underwood built a two-story frame building by 1908 with a first floor grocery store and second story lodge assembly space. Meetings occurred on Saturdays on or after a full moon. The store closed in the 1930s but the lodge continued to meet on the upper floor until 1989. Stacy Bright donated a new one-acre site about 1/4 mile away. At the new location, the lodge built a concrete block first floor, then moved the original historic second floor on May 6, 1989. The lodge continues with a dedicated band of Masons in service to the area.
Their website runs circles around most canned Masonic websites, and includes some reminiscences by Roy Underwood (d. 1981) about the "previous" (read on) lodge building. They also have a history of the Lodge, from start to the present day, noting that they were chartered by the Grand Lodge of Texas on December 8, 1904. Their initial ranks included thirty-one members, with Joe Dotson as the first Worshipful Master. Meetings were timed with the full moon to make it easier for members to travel by foot or on horseback under decent lighting.
The original Lodge (the subject of Roy Underwood's notes on the website) was designed and built by J.H. Underwood, a member of the lodge. The first floor was used as his grocery store and the second floor housed the Lodge. In 1908, Brother Underwood gave the ownership of to the property to C.C. Hammock, with Chalk Mountain Lodge retaining ownership of the second floor Lodge. There was another change in ownership, and in 1935, the store closed. Meetings continued on the second floor until 1989, when a little bit of red tape prompted a relocation a quarter mile away. The second floor was separated from the first, and moved here to top the concrete block building below. For all of these efforts, the lodge's nickname is "The Lodge That Wouldn't Die".
They meet at 7 PM on the Saturday after or on the day of a full moon, with a meal at 6 PM. "U.D." is "under dispensation."
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