DUANE
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Duane's take
The way I've heard it told, this comes straight from the official marker for Wichita Falls Lodge No. 635, and I aim to do it justice. Now picture yourself in November of 1884, somewhere in Wichita Falls, Texas. You're a Mason.
A proud one. And every time you want to attend lodge, you've got an eighteen-mile ride ahead of you, out to Henrietta and back, come rain or norther or whatever else the Panhandle feels like throwing at you. Eighteen miles.
Each way. That's a commitment, no question about it. So those Masons did what any sensible group of determined men would do.
They petitioned the Henrietta Masonic Lodge and asked for a lodge of their own, right there in Wichita Falls. And by December of that same year, the Grand Lodge of Texas had heard enough. They granted a dispensation for Wichita Lodge No. 635.
Now here's where the story gets some texture. The very first meeting of Wichita Lodge was held on January 5, 1885. And where did these founding brothers gather to conduct their solemn business?
In the hayloft over Soule's livery stable. That's right. Above the horses.
You want to talk about humble beginnings, well, there you go. The original officers that night were W. J.
McDonald, E. W. Foster, J.
C. Blalock, W. N.
Barker, C. E. Reid, W.
E. Brothers, J. A.
Williams, and J. S. Moody.
Eight men, a hayloft, and a charter. That's how you build something. Of course, nothing on the Texas frontier stays tidy for long.
In 1892, a fire took the original charter clean out of existence. Gone. But the Grand Lodge issued a new one, and with it came a small but permanent change: the name was updated to Wichita Falls Lodge.
The number stayed the same. Six hundred and thirty-five. In the years that followed, the lodge moved around the way lodges sometimes do, finding their footing in a growing town.
They met in a rented room above a dry goods store. Then the Panhandle National Bank building. Then the First National Bank building.
Each address a chapter in the life of a city still figuring out who it was. Then in 1915, they finally built their own. A lodge building went up at the corner of Tenth Street and Scott Avenue.
And more than fifty years later, in 1969, a new building was completed. But here's the thing about the Masons of Wichita Falls Lodge. Their work wasn't just inside their own walls.
Lodge members leveled the cornerstones of buildings all across this city. The city hall and fire station in 1908. The First Presbyterian Church in 1913.
The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in 1915. And the Wichita County Courthouse in 1916. Every one of those cornerstone ceremonies, the lodge was there.
Started in a hayloft in 1885. Shaped the skyline of a city. Not bad for a group of men who just didn't want to ride eighteen miles to Henrietta anymore.
What the marker says
In November 1884 Masons living here who regularly made the 18-mile journey to Henrietta for meetings petitioned the Henrietta Masonic Lodge for a new lodge to be located in Wichita Falls. In December the Grand Lodge of Texas granted a dispensation for Wichita Lodge No. 635. The first meeting of Wichita Lodge was January 5, 1885, in the hayloft over Soule's livery stable. The original officers were W. J. McDonald, E. W. Foster, J. C. Blalock, W. N. Barker, C. E. Reid, W. E. Brothers, J. A. Williams, and J. S. Moody. After the original charter was lost in an 1892 fire, a new charter was issued with the name changed to Wichita Falls Lodge. Over the years the Masons met in a succession of locations, including a rented room above a dry goods store, the Panhandle National Bank building, and the First National Bank building. A lodge building was erected at the corner of Tenth Street and Scott Avenue in 1915. A new building was completed in 1969. Lodge members leveled the cornerstones of many buildings in Wichita Falls, including the city hall and fire station in 1908, first Presbyterian Church in 1913, Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in 1915 and the Wichita County Courthouse in 1916. (1987)