Gladewater Lodge No. 852, A.F. & A.M.

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Somewhere on the northwest corner of Main and Pacific in Gladewater, Texas, a story started small and grew into something the whole community still leans on. Pull up a chair, because this one's got layers.

It is November 15, 1900. Twenty master masons, many of them coming over from Longview Masonic Lodge No. 404, put their names on a petition. They wanted something of their own, something rooted right there in what would become Gladewater.

They had to wait a few months, the way things worth waiting for usually make you do. Then on April 19, 1901, Grand Master Nat M. Washer issued the dispensation, and a man named Daniel Washington Wood stepped up as the first Worshipful Master of the new lodge.

By December of that same year, the lodge had formally chartered with twenty-nine members. Twenty had signed the petition. Twenty-nine showed up to make it real.

That's how word gets around. For thirty years, from 1901 to 1931, those members gathered in James A. Ponder's general store, which also happened to house the post office, right there on the northwest corner of Main and Pacific.

Think about what that means. The same building where you picked up your mail and bought your dry goods was also where the lodge did its business. Community layered right on top of community.

And the men filling those meetings were no small figures in early Gladewater. Prominent businessmen, clergymen, professionals, civic leaders. Among them was Dr.

Earl George McLaughlin, who opened the city's first hospital. And when the influenza epidemic of 1918 came rolling through, Dr. McLaughlin invented a medication that earned him national acclaim.

The lodge carried people like that. After Ponder's store, the members met for a time in a schoolhouse and then in the Measles Hotel. Two temporary addresses before the lodge finally built something of its own.

They first met at this very site on July 1, 1940, and formally dedicated the building in September of that year. Once they had their hall, they weren't just sitting on it. They held their meetings upstairs and leased the first floor to a number of enterprises, one of which was the Gladewater Daily Times-Tribune.

The local newspaper working out of the Masonic lodge. You couldn't make that up. Sharing a common early history with Lodge No. 852 is Chapter 831, Order of the Eastern Star, which chartered in 1932 and has long been active in supporting lodge projects and activities.

Lodge members have gone on to serve the Grand Lodge of Texas as district deputy grand masters. They have backed Masonic projects across the state and closer to home, they contribute to community and educational programs, including annual scholarships. Gladewater Lodge No. 852 started with a petition signed by twenty men on a November day in 1900.

More than a century later, it stands as both a piece of the city's history and, as the marker puts it, an integral part of its future. Twenty names on a piece of paper, and look what held.

What the marker says

On November 15, 1900, twenty master masons, many from Longview Masonic Lodge No. 404, presented a petition to form a separate lodge. On April 19, 1901, Grand Master Nat M. Washer issued the dispensation, and Daniel Washington Wood served as first Worshipful Master of the new lodge. It formally chartered in December 1901 with 29 members. From 1901 to 1931, members met in James A. Ponder’s general store, which also housed the post office, on the northwest corner of Main and Pacific. During the lodge’s formative years, members included prominent early businessmen, clergymen, professionals and civic leaders of Gladewater. Among them was Dr. Earl George McLaughlin, who opened the city’s first hospital and invented a medication during the influenza epidemic of 1918 that earned him national acclaim. Sharing a common early history with the lodge is Chapter 831, Order of the Eastern Star. Chartered in 1932, the group has long been active in its support of lodge projects and activities. The lodge met for a time in a schoolhouse and in the Measles Hotel before building its own hall at this site. It first met here on July 1, 1940, and members formally dedicated the building in September of that year. They held meetings upstairs and leased the first floor space to a number of enterprises, including the Gladewater Daily Times-Tribune. Lodge members have served the Grand Lodge of Texas as district deputy grand masters and actively supported Masonic projects. Locally, they contribute to many worthwhile community and educational programs, including annual scholarships. Today, Gladewater Lodge No. 852 serves as an integral part of the city’s future, as well as a reminder of its rich history. (2005)