DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Holland Lodge Number One, A.F. and A.M. of Texas — and friend, this one is worth pulling over for. Every lodge has a story. But very few lodges have a story that runs straight through a revolution, a battlefield, and the birth of a republic.
Holland Lodge Number One does. It started in March of 1835, down in Brazoria. That's when the first Masonic lodge in all of Texas was organized.
They set to work officially on December 27th, 1835, operating under a dispensation from the Grand Lodge of Louisiana — and they named the lodge for that Grand Lodge's Grand Master, one John Henry Holland, who held that office from 1835 to 1837. Now, things were moving fast in Texas in those days. The lodge was barely getting its feet under it when February of 1836 arrived — and with it, the Texas War for Independence.
The Mexican army, on the march under General Urrea to join forces with Dictator Santa Anna, rolled through, and when they did, the lodge and its records were destroyed. Gone. And that right there is where this story could have ended.
But it didn't end. Because the charter — the sacred founding document of that lodge — was not in the building. It was in the saddlebags of Dr.
Anson Jones. Texas patriot. First worshipful master of Holland Lodge.
That man rode into battle carrying the charter with him, and on April 21st, 1836, he was at San Jacinto when Texas won its victory. The charter survived the war in a doctor's saddlebags. Let that settle over you for a moment.
In November of 1837, Holland Lodge was reopened — this time in Houston, in the capitol of the Republic of Texas, at the site of what would become the Rice Hotel. And on December 20th, 1837, Holland Lodge Number 36 — that was its original designation under the Grand Lodge of Louisiana — gathered with the only other Masonic bodies then existing in Texas: Milam Lodge Number 40 of Nacogdoches, and McFarland Lodge Number 41 of San Augustine. Three lodges.
That's all there was in the entire republic. And together, they organized the Grand Lodge of the Republic of Texas. Dr.
Anson Jones — the man who'd carried that charter through a war — was elected first grand master of the new Grand Lodge. And Holland Lodge, in recognition of its place in history, was assigned the Number One designation. Not Number 36 anymore.
Number One. First lodge in Texas, first worshipful master, first grand master — and a charter that survived a war in a set of saddlebags. Some things earn their number.
What the marker says
Ancient Free & Accepted Masons of Texas. First Masonic Lodge in Texas. Organized in March 1835 at Brazoria. Set to work Dec. 27, 1835, under dispensation of Grand Lodge of Louisiana, for whose 1835-37 Grand Master, John Henry Holland, this lodge was named. Labors were interrupted in Feb. 1836, in Texas War for Independence, when lodge and records were destroyed by Mexican army during march of Gen. Urrea to join forces with Dictator Santa Anna. The charter, however, was then in saddlebags of Dr. Anson Jones, Texas patriot and first worshipful master of Holland Lodge, who carried the sacred document into battle and victory at San Jacinto, April 21, 1836. In Nov. 1837, Holland Lodge was reopened, in the Republic of Texas capitol (at site of present Rice Hotel), Houston. On Dec. 20, 1837, Holland Lodge No. 36 (the original designation under Grand Lodge of Louisiana) met with the only other Masonic bodies then existent in Texas-- Milam Lodge No. 40 of Nacogdoches and McFarland Lodge No. 41 of San Augustine-- and organized the Grand Lodge of the Republic of Texas. Dr. Anson Jones, of this lodge, was elected first grand master of the Grand Lodge of the Republic of Texas, and Holland Lodge was assigned the No. 1 designation.