Winters Lodge No. 743, A.F. & A.M.

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Winters Lodge No. 743. Now settle in, because this story starts before the town did. Way out in Runnels County, a group of men climbed up to the upper room of a schoolhouse and decided to start something.

No town yet, mind you. Just the land, the schoolhouse, and the resolve to plant a lodge. Ten years before Winters even became a town, they were already meeting.

That's the kind of patience and foresight that built this part of Texas. The lodge was chartered on December 7th, 1892, and the first officers stepped into their roles with names worth remembering. J.

T. Brown took the chair as worshipful master. Ervin Brown served as senior warden.

And W. S. Mullin rounded out the leadership as junior warden.

Three men, one charter, one little schoolhouse upper room, and a whole lot of history ahead of them. Now, things moved along just fine until 1910, when fire had its say. A blaze took the lodge, the way fire has a habit of doing, and the brotherhood faced a decision.

They made it without hesitation. They moved to a new hall, the one that still stands today as the present hall. From a borrowed room above a school, through a fire, and into a home of their own.

Winters Lodge No. 743 has been here longer than the town itself, and it's still standing.

What the marker says

Founded in upper room of schoolhouse ten years before Winters became a town. Chartered December 7, 1892. First officers: J. T. Brown, worshipful master; Ervin Brown, senior warden; W. S. Mullin, junior warden. After a 1910 fire, lodge moved to present hall.