McAllen Lodge No. 1110, A.F. & A.M.

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about McAllen Lodge No. 1110. Now settle in, because this is a story about brotherhood, building, and the kind of institution that just keeps going. Somewhere around 1915, a man named R.

M. Bounds, a Master Mason, gathered about thirty fellow Masons together and said, in so many words, let's make something official. And on December 8, 1915, McAllen Lodge No. 1110 of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons was chartered.

Thirty men and a date. That's how it begins. Now, they didn't have a temple right off.

In those early years, the lodge held its meetings in the Joseph building and the Osborne building, two of the early downtown commercial structures of McAllen. You can picture it, men in suits climbing stairs in a working commercial block, conducting the ancient ritual of the lodge between the ordinary commerce of the day. That was the arrangement until 1927, when the lodge erected a temple at this very site.

Took a little over a decade, but they built it themselves, on their own ground. Inside those walls, the membership drew from people across various Masonic jurisdictions. That's a detail worth sitting with.

This wasn't a single tight-knit community all cut from the same cloth. These were Masons who came from different places, different traditions within the craft, gathered under one charter. And two noted early teachers, Isadore Moritz and Hugh R.

Lockhart, were the ones doing the instructing, shaping that diverse membership into something cohesive. Here's where the story gets its crowning detail, and the marker offers it with admirable understatement. The lodge is notable, it says, for having two members who became Grand Masters.

Two. From one lodge. If you know anything about Masonic structure, you know that's not a thing that happens every day.

And through all of it, through the rented halls and the built temple and the passage of decades, Lodge No. 1110 has continued to be active in local civic affairs right there in Hidalgo County. Some institutions talk about leaving a mark. This one just keeps showing up.

What the marker says

This lodge, organized by Master Mason R. M. Bounds and about 30 other Masons, was chartered on December 8, 1915. Meetings were held in the Joseph and Osborne buildings, two early downtown commercial structures, prior to the lodge erecting a temple at this site in 1927. Noted early teachers Isadore Moritz and Hugh R. Lockhart instructed a membership consisting of people from various masonic jurisdictions. The lodge is notable for having two members who became Grand Masters. Lodge No. 1110 continues to be active in local civic affairs. (1995)