Atascosa Lodge No. 379, A.F. and A.M.

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Atascosa Lodge Number Three Seventy-Nine. Now, eleven men walked into Benton City in 1872 with a purpose. Eleven Master Masons, no more, no less, and they set about organizing a lodge.

That's not a crowd, that's a founding. The charter came through on June 9, 1873, granted by the Grand Lodge of Texas, and from that moment, Atascosa Lodge Number Three Seventy-Nine was official. They didn't stop there.

By 1876, they had put up a hall, and they built it out of stone. Stone. Not wood, not wishful thinking.

Stone. And that hall didn't just serve the lodge. It opened its doors and provided space for a public school.

Out here in Atascosa County, that was no small thing. One sturdy stone building pulling double duty, holding the community together from two directions at once. The lodge went on to furnish social and cultural leadership to the locality, as the marker puts it, and that phrase carries some weight if you let it sit a moment.

Decades of it. Quiet, steady, showing up. Then came May 20, 1909.

The lodge was moved to Lytle. A new address, but the same institution, carrying everything it had built in Benton City right along with it. The marker was placed in 1970, in appreciation for Masons past and present.

Eleven men started it. The rest is a long line of people who kept their word.

What the marker says

Organized by eleven Master Masons in Benton City in 1872 and chartered June 9, 1873, by Grand Lodge of Texas. First hall, erected of stone in 1876, provided space for public school. The lodge, which has furnished social and cultural leadership to this locality, was moved to Lytle on May 20, 1909. (1970) Marker in appreciation for Masons past and present.