Hayrick Lodge 696, A.F. & A.M.

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'm going to tell it to you. Hayrick Lodge 696, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Coke County. Now, before we get to the building, we have to talk about the town.

Hayrick was the first county seat of Coke County, and it was there, in 1890, that this lodge got its start. Lodge number 696, organized and open for business. But Hayrick didn't hold onto that county seat title for long, and the lodge followed the county's fortunes when it moved to Robert Lee in 1891.

You go where the people are. That's the way of things out here. Now, a lodge needs a proper hall, and in 1906, they got one.

A contractor by the name of S.C. Wilkins built it, and here is the part that deserves a moment of your attention. Those walls you're looking at are concrete blocks, and those concrete blocks were mixed and cast by hand.

Every single one of them. S.C. Wilkins and whoever worked alongside him weren't pouring from some factory mold.

They were making the building, block by block, out of raw material and effort. The first story of that hall has housed many businesses and U.S. offices over the years. People have come in, conducted their affairs, and gone on their way, all inside walls that somebody shaped with their own hands in 1906.

The lodge has been here through all of it, keeping its number, keeping its name, carrying a little piece of Hayrick, the first county seat, right into the present.

What the marker says

Organized 1890 at Hayrick, first county seat of Coke County. Moved to Robert Lee 1891. This hall was built in 1906 by a contractor, S.C. Wilkins, of concrete blocks mixed and cast by hand. First story has housed many businesses, U.S. offices. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1966.