DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker at Cedar Bayou tells it, and I'm going to do it justice. Now, the Hall of Cedar Bayou Masonic Lodge Number 321, A. F. and A.
M. — that's a building with a story baked right into its bones, and I mean that more literally than you might expect. The hall went up between 1875 and 1876, built largely by the labor of the members themselves. Men who belonged to the lodge picked up the tools and raised the thing with their own hands.
That alone is worth a moment of respect. But here's where the story gets its first good twist. The lumber for this hall was cut to order all the way down in Florida, then loaded onto a schooner and shipped here to Cedar Bayou.
And that schooner arrived — now pay attention to this — in the nick of time. Because 1875 brought a hurricane through this part of Texas, and it brought havoc with it. That lumber made it just ahead of the storm.
You sit with that for a second. A little longer at sea, a little slower on the water, and there might not have been a hall to speak of at all. But it arrived.
The hall was built. And it has stood ever since. Now, the story doesn't stop there.
Come 1883, the Worshipful Master of the lodge was a man by the name of J. H. Kipp.
And J. H. Kipp was apparently a man of considerable skill and generosity, because in 1889 he made and gave to the hall a carved and inlaid altar — along with some other appointments.
Made it himself. Gave it as a gift. That altar is still in there, a piece of one man's craftsmanship offered to something larger than himself.
And then there's the Cedar Bayou Chapter Number 11 of the Order of the Eastern Star — the oldest Eastern Star chapter in all of Texas. It was organized in 1884, and it has always met in this hall. Always.
Not mostly. Not for a good long while. Always.
That word is doing real work in this story. One building, built by the hands of its members, carrying lumber that outran a hurricane, holding an altar carved by a Worshipful Master, and home to the oldest Eastern Star chapter in the state of Texas — still meeting inside those walls. Cedar Bayou Masonic Hall isn't just old.
It earned every year.
What the marker says
Built 1875-1876, largely by labor of members. Lumber, cut to order in Florida, arrived here by schooner in nick of time to escape havoc of 1875 hurricane. The 1883 Worshipful Master, J. H. Kipp, made and gave (1889) the carved and inlaid altar and some other appointments. Oldest Eastern Star chapter in Texas (Cedar Bayou Chapter No. 11, O. E. S.), organized in 1884, has always met in this hall. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1970