Groesbeck Lodge No. 354, A.F. & A.M.

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, friends. The Grand Masonic Lodge of Texas chartered Groesbeck Lodge Number 354 on June 14, 1872. A few weeks later, on July 10, the Lodge was set to labor, with J.

J. Lewis serving as its first worshipful master. That's a beginning with some ceremony to it.

Now, what a Lodge is remembered by is often the company it kept, and this one kept exceptional company. Among its members was L. L.

Foster, born in 1851, gone in 1901, who served as a member of the Legislature and rose to house speaker from 1880 to 1886, and then went on to serve as president of Texas A. and M. College, now a university, from 1898 to 1901. Then there was W.

A. Keeling, born 1873, died 1945, who served as Texas attorney general from 1922 to 1925, and later as a United States district judge from 1942 to 1945. Legislators, a college president, a state attorney general, a federal judge.

That's not a membership roster, that's a hall of consequence. And through it all, the Lodge kept meeting, kept working, kept its hundred-year promise. On June 14, 1972, exactly one century after that original charter, Groesbeck Lodge Number 354 marked its 100th anniversary.

Same date. Same Lodge. Some things in Texas, you just don't let go of.

What the marker says

The Grand Masonic Lodge of Texas chartered this Lodge June 14, 1872. It was set to labor on July 10, with J. J. Lewis as the first worshipful master. Lodge membership has included such distinguished Texans as L. L. Foster (1851-1901), a member and house speaker of the Legislature, 1880-86, and president of Texas A.& M. College (now university), 1898-1901; also W. A. Keeling (1873-1945), Texas attorney general, 1922-25, and U.S. district judge, 1942-45. This Lodge celebrated its 100th anniversary on June 14, 1972. (1976)