DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just the one passin' it along. Now Cleburne, Texas, that town did not ease its way into existence. It arrived with intention.
In 1867, Cleburne was selected as the Johnson County seat. Brand new town, brand new purpose, and folks were already thinking about how to hold it together. Two years after that, the Grand Lodge of Texas granted a charter to Cleburne Masonic Lodge No. 315.
And once those members had their charter, they didn't sit on it. They built a lodge hall in March of 1871. Two months later, just two months, the town of Cleburne was officially chartered.
Now, you want to talk about men who shaped a place, the marker gives us names worth remembering: B. J. Chambers, Jeremiah Easterwood, N.
H. Cook, J. A.
Willingham, B. S. Greenshaw, B.
F. Clayton, and Charles W. Breech.
Early members of the lodge, every one of them, and influential in Cleburne's development. It didn't stop there. Several Cleburne mayors, county judges, state judges; members of Lodge No. 315.
The kind of civic roots that go down deep and spread wide. And the lodge's work in the community? It has centered on education: financial outreach, community activities, all of it aimed at learning and opportunity.
A county seat, a charter, a lodge hall, and a town, built in layers, by people who showed up. That's Cleburne Lodge No. 315, and that's Johnson County knowing what it was doing.
What the marker says
The new town of Cleburne was selected as the Johnson County Seat in 1867. Two years later, The Grand Lodge of Texas granted a charter to the Cleburne Masonic Lodge No. 315. The members built a lodge hall in March 1871 and the town of Cleburne was officially chartered two months later. Early members of the Cleburne Lodge who were influential in the town's development included B. J. Chambers, Jeremiah Easterwood, N. H. Cook, J. A. Willingham, B. S. Greenshaw, B. F. Clayton, and Charles W. Breech. Several Cleburne mayors and county and state judges have been members of Cleburne Lodge No. 315. The lodge's financial outreach and community activities center around educational efforts. (2000)