DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's how the marker at Smithfield Masonic Lodge tells it, and I'm takin' it straight from the official record. July 13, 1875; that's when a group of men sat down together and held the organizational meeting for what would become one of Tarrant County's most enduring fraternal institutions. They called it the Grand Prairie Lodge at first, and while they were gettin' their footing, they borrowed space from Zion Church for their meetings.
Just a year later, though, in 1876, they had their own building. The first Lodge Building, built and standing, a place of their own. Now that building had a long life ahead of it; maybe longer than anybody expected.
In 1894, the structure was picked up and moved to the lot right next to where that marker stands today, and it kept right on serving the Lodge's membership all the way until 1981. That's not a building, that's a commitment. Over all those decades, the Lodge counted among its members some of the prominent early settlers of Tarrant County; and one name in particular carries some weight in this part of Texas.
Eli Smith. The community of Smithfield, now part of North Richland Hills, was named for him. So when you say the name out loud, Smithfield, you're sayin' his name, whether you know it or not.
The Lodge itself didn't officially take the title Smithfield Masonic Lodge until 1947, sealing the connection between the fraternity and the community it had helped build. From a borrowed pew at Zion Church to more than a hundred years of meetings, that old Lodge building stood witness to all of it; and the name it finally claimed was already written into the landscape long before they thought to put it on the door.
What the marker says
The organizational meeting for this lodge was held on July 13, 1875. Originally known as the Grand Prairie Lodge, the fraternal organization held its meetings in the Zion Church until the first Lodge Building was constructed in 1876. In 1894 the structure was moved to the lot adjacent this site and was in use until 1981. The Lodge's membership has included some of the prominent early settlers of Tarrant County, including Eli Smith, for whom the Community of Smithfield (now part of North Richland Hills) was named. The title Smithfield Masonic Lodge was adopted in 1947.