DUANE
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Duane's take
Now, I'm tellin' this one straight from the official marker, the way the record has it laid down. St. John's Masonic Lodge No. 5, Brazoria County, and friend, this story starts before Texas was even a state.
Back in 1838, the Grand Lodge of the Republic of Texas, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, granted a warrant of dispensation, and just like that, St. John's Lodge No. 5 had its beginning. The first worshipful master, Daniel T.
Fitchett, was installed by none other than Anson Jones, the Most Worshipful Grand Master of Masons of the Republic of Texas. Now that's a title that fills a room. In those early days, the lodge met in a private home.
No grand hall, no columns, no ceremony of stone. Just brothers gathered in somebody's parlor, doing the work. That carried on until 1842, when meetings ceased.
Then in 1845, the charter was revoked. You might think that was the end of it. You would be wrong.
The Grand Lodge of Texas reissued that charter in 1848, and the lodge came back breathing. Many well known Texas patriots and leaders were involved in the early organization. The marker doesn't name them all, but it doesn't have to.
You feel the weight of that word, patriots, and you understand what kind of men were in that room. By 1852, a two-story lodge building had been erected in East Columbia. First floor for Sunday School classes and as a public school.
Second floor for lodge meetings. That building was doing double duty, servin' the community from the ground up, literally. Now fast forward to 1918.
The oil boom hit West Columbia, and it hit hard. Unprecedented growth, the marker says, and that kind of growth changes a place. The lodge felt it.
They moved from East Columbia and built a new structure in 1922 that served the organization all the way until 1970, when a building was completed on West Jackson Street. Three buildings across the decades, each one a new chapter. And through all of it, the members kept a strong tradition of supporting education and civic outreach, servin' the area for more than a hundred and fifty years.
A warrant of dispensation in 1838, a revoked charter, a reissued charter, oil booms and school rooms and new buildings on new streets. St. John's Lodge No. 5 outlasted nearly everything that tried to stop it.
What the marker says
St. John's Masonic Lodge No. 5 traces its history to 1838 when a warrant of dispensation was granted by the Grand Lodge of the Republic of Texas, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. The first worshipful master, Daniel T. Fitchett, was installed by Anson Jones, the Most Worshipful Grand Master of Masons of the Republic of Texas. The lodge met in a private home until 1842 when meetings ceased. The charter was revoked in 1845, but was reissued by the Grand Lodge of Texas in 1848. Many well known Texas patriots and leaders were involved in the early organization of the lodge. A two-story lodge building was erected in East Columbia in 1852. The first floor was used for Sunday School classes and as a public school, and the second floor housed lodge meetings. The oil boom of 1918 in West Columbia resulted in unprecedented growth in the area. The lodge moved from East Columbia and built a new structure in 1922 that served the organization until 1970, when a building was completed on West Jackson Street. The members maintain a strong tradition of supporting education and civic outreach programs and have served the area for more than 150 years. (1997)