DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm passing it along straight. Way out in the Williamson County community of Bagdad, a group of men got together and started building something that would outlast all of them. They organized a Masonic lodge, and by 1871 they had it chartered formal and proper.
They named it for Norton Moses, one of the men who'd been there at the formation, right in the thick of getting the whole thing off the ground. Now that's the kind of honor that sticks to a name. Before the ink was even dry on that charter, they'd already put up a lodge building, constructed in 1870, and that one building was doing the work of three.
It was the lodge hall, yes, but it was also the community meeting center and the public school all at once. Bagdad may have been a small community, but that building was carrying a heavy load and doing it without complaint. Then came 1899, and with it a railroad town called Leander, shiny and new and pulling folks toward it the way railroad towns do.
The Masons moved with the times. They packed up and headed to Leander, and once they got there, they didn't slow down one bit. They actively supported the public schools, kept up with community activities, and through their leadership, the lodge worked its way deep into the development of western Williamson County.
From a single building in Bagdad doing three jobs at once, to a cornerstone of a whole region. That is a lodge that earned its name.
What the marker says
Organized in the Williamson County community of Bagdad, this Masonic Lodge was chartered formally in 1871. It was named for Norton Moses, who participated in the group's formation. A lodge building, constructed in 1870, also served as a community meeting center and public school. In 1899 the Masons moved to the new railroad town of Leander, where they actively supported the public schools and other community activities. Through its leadership, the lodge has been instrumental in the development of western Williamson County. (1985)