DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Hiram Lodge Number 433, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, out in Grayson County. Now settle in, because this lodge has been around long enough to have a few good stories tucked under its apron. It all starts on June 7, 1875, the day Hiram Lodge Number 433 received its charter.
From the very beginning, the lodge met in a building right there on the original Collinsville Town Square. A proper place, a proper start. But here's where the story takes its first turn.
In 1881, that building burned. Gone. And if losing their meeting hall wasn't enough, that same year the Texas and Pacific Railroad came through the area, and well, Hiram Lodge did what the whole town did.
They picked up and relocated to be near the railroad tracks. You follow the rails, that was the wisdom of the age. So the lodge dusted itself off, found new footing, and kept right on going.
In fact, since that fire in 1881, Hiram Lodge has met in six different locations, sharing space along the way with local businesses and even a school. Six locations. That's not a lodge that gives up easy.
Through all of it, the members kept their eyes on the people around them. They aided Masonic widows and orphans. They supported war bonds.
They lent assistance to schools and to the Scottish Rite Hospital for Crippled Children. That's the quiet work, the kind that doesn't always make the headlines but holds a community together all the same. Chartered in 1875, still standing after fires and railroads and the long turning of years.
Hiram Lodge Number 433 is proof that some things, if they're built right, just don't quit.
What the marker says
Chartered on June 7, 1875, Hiram Lodge first met in a building on the original Collinsville Town Square. Since 1881, when that building burned, the organization has met in six locations and shared facilities with local businesses and a school. In 1881, when the Texas & Pacific Railroad came through the area, Hiram Lodge, along with most of the town, relocated to be near the railroad tracks. Civic activities have included aid to Masonic widows and orphans, support of war bonds, and assistance to schools and the Scottish Rite Hospital for Crippled Children.