Springfield

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SPRINGFIELD LODGE

Location: Springfield

Chartered By: Edwin B. Holmes

Charter Date: 03/13/1895 1895-44

Precedence Date: 05/16/1894

Current Status: in Grand Lodge Vault. Merged into Newton Lodge, 06/15/2002 (now Wilbraham Masonic Lodge.)


PAST MASTERS

  • Harry W. Haskins, 1894; SN
  • Lewis C. Hyde, 1895
  • Edward H. Hall, 1896
  • Walter G. Morse, 1897
  • Robert F. Warren, 1898
  • Charles A. Stone, 1899
  • John G. Maxfield, 1900
  • Harry L. Norton, 1901
  • Franklin A. Lorimer, 1902
  • George F. Borden, 1903
  • Bloomfield H. Dayton, 1904
  • Warren P. Underwood, 1905
  • D. Edward Miller, 1906
  • Horace D. Litches, 1907
  • George L. Fenn, 1908; SN
  • Ralph L. Mann, 1909
  • Gurdon W. Gordon, 1910; N
  • Cummings L. Lorthrop, 1911
  • Charles A. Hammond, 1912
  • John E. Hall, 1913
  • Lester E. Henrick, 1914
  • A. Liton Bausman, 1915
  • Ralph N. Fowler, 1916
  • Edward G. Marshman, 1917; SN
  • Robert J. Brice, 1918
  • George S. Perkins, 1919
  • Raymond R. Ball, 1920
  • H. Greeley Randall, 1921
  • Edward F. Secraft, 1922
  • Arthur L. Foss, 1923
  • William H. Hobard, 1924
  • Harold E. Hartwell, 1925; N
  • Cornelius S. Herbut, 1926
  • Benjamin L. Bragg, 1927
  • Leroy C. Cushman, 1928
  • Donald McClench, 1929
  • Robert B. Warner, 1930; N
  • Chester W. Allen, 1931
  • Warren D. Kinsman, 1932
  • William W. Yerrall, 1933; N
  • Earl H. Wright, 1934
  • Albert F. Steeves, 1935
  • Ralph E. French, 1936
  • Erick C. Erickson, 1937
  • Linwood B. Regan, 1938
  • Malcolm B. Ross, 1939
  • Russell B. Packard, 1940
  • Elwin C. Hubbard, 1941
  • Fred A. Cummings, 1942
  • Murdo A. MacLeod, 1943
  • Horace V. Weske, 1944
  • Arthur W. Erickson, 1945
  • Howard J. Smith, 1946
  • Hector J. E. Lessier, 1947
  • Howard A. Wheeler, 1948
  • Leon H. Hutchins, 1949; N
  • Charles E. Hammond, 1950
  • Walter E. Anderson, 1951
  • Ernest R. Hanford, 1952
  • Granford W. Bull, 1953
  • Ernest E. Remmillard, 1954
  • J. Paul Sturtivant, 1955
  • Litton W. Powell, 1956
  • J. Kenneth Alexander, 1957
  • Bruce A. Stephens, 1958
  • Leslie F. Walker, 1959
  • Stanley P. Mastak, 1960
  • Theodore J. DeGrace, 1961
  • Edward M. Avery, Jr., 1962; N
  • Glenwood A. Barger, 1963
  • Walter E. Rossmeisel, 1964
  • Charles P. Sandbrook, 1965
  • Robert S. Langford, 1966
  • Robert M. Bullivant, 1967
  • Richard W. Thies, 1968
  • Domingos Travis, 1969
  • Ezra DeDoux, 1970
  • Stanley S. Walkowicz, 1971
  • Leonard A. Frodette, 1972
  • Robert W. Clarke, 1973
  • Jack Metcalf, 1974
  • Myron G. Swain, 1975; PDDGM
  • Elliott L. Buxton, 1976, 1979
  • Robert E. Reed, 1977, 1978
  • Robert C. Ropsys, 1980, 1983
  • Edward M. Avery, III, 1981
  • R. Taylor Carr, 1982
  • James Alexander, 1984, 1985
  • Derrick C. Powell, 1986
  • Joseph H. Taylor, Sr., 1987
  • Edward R. Sanderson, 1988-1990, 1994
  • David A. Buchanan, 1991, 1992
  • James A. Alexander, 1993
  • Robert W. Sanderson, 1995, 1996
  • Edward R. Sanderson, Jr., 1997-2002

REFERENCES IN GRAND LODGE PROCEEDINGS

  • Petition for Dispensation: 1894 not listed in Proceedings
  • Petition for Charter: 1895
  • Consolidation Petition (with Newton Lodge): 2002

ANNIVERSARIES

  • 1899 (5th Anniversary)
  • 1920 (25th Anniversary)
  • 1945 (50th Anniversary)
  • 1970 (75th Anniversary)

VISITS BY GRAND MASTER

BY-LAW CHANGES

1895 1901 1902 1906 1908 1911 1912 1919 1924 1926 1927 1940 1948 1949 1952 1957 1958 1966 1969 1972 1975 1976 1977 1982 1991

HISTORY

  • 1945 (50th Anniversary History, 1945-90)
  • 1970 (75th Anniversary History, 1970-113)

50TH ANNIVERSARY HISTORY, APRIL 1945

From Proceedings, Page 1945-90:

By Right Worshipful Gurdon W. Gordon

Fifty years have passed into history since the organization of Springfield Lodge in 1894. Interest in Freemasonry was greatly stimulated by the erection and dedication of the Temple at Main and State Streets in 1893. Early in 1894, a group of prominent business and professional men of Springfield took steps to organize a new Masonic Lodge. On March 2, 1894, twenty-one members of the Craft met in the main lodge-room of the then new Masonic Temple. It is apparent that from the records of this first meeting they were men of strong convictions and individual ideas.

On a motion that an informal ballot be taken upon the choice of the name for the new Lodge, twenty-one ballots were cast and nine names were suggested, with "Springfield" leading with six votes. On the formal ballot, the name of "Springfield" was adopted by a vote of eleven votes and ten scattering.

Brothers Harlan P. Stone, Walter G. Morse, Charles E. Brown, Luke S. Stowe and Louis C. Hyde were appointed as a committee to confer and select a list of officers for the Lodge while under dispensation. This committee, at a meeting held on May 9, 1894, reported in favor of the following:

  • Worshipful Master: Harry W. Haskins
  • Senior Warden: Louis C. Hyde
  • Junior Warden: Edward H. Hall
  • Treasurer: Edwin A. Carter
  • Secretary: William E. Gilbert
  • Chaplain: Charles C. Lewis
  • Marshal: E. Dudley Chapin
  • Senior Deacon: Walter G. Morse
  • Junior Deacon: Robert F. Warren
  • Senior Steward: Charles A. Stone
  • Junior Steward: Ralph P. Alden
  • Organist: Wheeler H. Hall

The first regular communication of Springfield Lodge under dispensation was held June 6, at which time ten petitions for membership were received. In this list appears the name of Albert Allin Chamberlain. He was the first candidate to knock at the door of Springfield Lodge for admission and was the first candidate to be raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason, the date being September 26, 1894.

At the next regular communication of the Lodge, on October 3, 1894, the resignation of William E. Gilbert as Secretary was read and accepted. On motion duly made and seconded, Brother Gilbert cast one vote for Brother Chamberlain for Secretary and he was declared elected. He served Springfield Lodge as its Secretary until November, 1934, when he declined re-election— a period of forty years. His records, as well as the records of Brother Gilbert, were beautifully and accurately written. To every member of Springfield Lodge, Brother Chamberlain was an esteemed friend, a wise counselor and a just and upright Mason.

On Wednesday, April 17, 1895, Springfield Lodge was constituted by Most Worshipful Grand Master Edwin B. Holmes and Suite. The Grand Master called upon the Recording Grand Secretary, Sereno D. Nickerson, to read the Charter of Springfield Lodge. The Charter Members, sixty-one in number, were as follows:

  • Harry W. Haskins
  • Louis C. Hyde
  • Edward H. Hall
  • Wheeler H. Hall
  • Edward C. Cowles
  • Walter G. Morse
  • Jerome W. Hyde
  • Edward H. Lathrop
  • John A. Murphy
  • John S. Sanderson
  • Charles R. Trask.
  • John G. Maxfield
  • Peter Murray
  • William Nicoll
  • Herbert C. Puffer
  • Frank E. Wheeler
  • Frank G. Toby
  • E. Dudley Chapin
  • Charles C. Lewis
  • William P. Spellman
  • J. H. Carmichael
  • William P. Birnie
  • Henry S. Hyde
  • Edwin A. Carter
  • John E. Rollings
  • John M. Smith
  • William A. Whitney
  • Albert D. Nason
  • George B. Holbrook
  • Luke S. Stowe
  • William C. Taylor

  • John F. Ingalls
  • Henry L. Norton
  • Louis F. Carr
  • Alfred F. Birnie
  • Elwood L. Graves
  • Henry M. Phillips
  • William E. Gilbert
  • Charles L. Chapin
  • Charles A. Stone
  • Ralph P. Alden
  • William W. More
  • Harlan P. Stone
  • Edward Pynchon
  • Henry E. March
  • Frank. B. Mitchell
  • Albert W. Allen
  • Robert F. Warren
  • John C. Ransehousen
  • Campbell Chapin
  • James L. Johnson
  • Charles A. Royce
  • Theodore F. Breck
  • Philip H. Potter
  • Stephen F. Pomeroy
  • Henry S. Dickinson
  • Frederick G. Howe
  • Charles E. Brown
  • Henry M. Brewster
  • Charles Hall
  • Francke W. Dickinson

By direction of the Grand Master, the Charter Members assembled west of the altar. Springfield Lodge was then constituted in due form. After the ceremony of constitution, the officers of the Grand Lodge, the officers of Springfield Lodge and the receiving and entertainment committees repaired to the Nayassett Club where a banquet was served.

At 8:30 p.m. the seating capacity of lodge-room was taxed to its limit to accommodate a large and representative audience to witness the public installation. The officers heretofore listed as serving under dispensation were installed, and in addition, Brothers John G. Maxfield and Frank F. Rolzhauser were installed as Inside Sentinel and Tyler, respectively.

At the conclusion of the ceremony of installation, the Grand Master delivered an eloquent address, from which the following is quoted:

"Brethren, Springfield Lodge has been instituted, its officers installed, and you are now prepared for the discharge of such business as may properly be brought before you. Raise the highest standard; seek the loftiest ideal portrayed in our service. Let not numbers alone, nor exactness of ritual alone, nor precision of movement alone, be your chiefest aim, but seek so to impress men, so to make our teaching a part of their very life, that they may indeed be men, noble men, God-fearing men, men prepared by the best living and the best doing on earth for a seat in the Celestial Lodge above."

To such ideals Springfield Lodge has adhered for half a century. The enthusiastic purposes of its founders is proven by the fact that at the conclusion of the term of office of Worshipful Louis C. Hyde, the second Master of the Lodge, its membership had increased from sixty-one to one hundred thirty-six.

On Tuesday morning, June 1, 1897, the officers of Springfield, Roswell Lee and Hampden Lodges, escorting the officers of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge, joined the Civic Procession as it passed the Masonic Temple and proceeded to the site of the new high school building on State Street. At the request of Mayor Henry S. Dickinson, a member of Springfield Lodge, Most Worshipful Grand Master Charles P. Hutchinson laid the corner stone in accordance with ancient Masonic usage.

No history of Springfield Lodge would be complete without special mention of Right Worshipful Harry W. Haskins, its first Worshipful Master. He was honored by the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge by appointment as District Deputy Grand Master of the Sixteenth Masonic District in 1901 and 1902. As District Deputy, he rendered distinguished service to his Lodge, his Masonic District and the Grand Lodge. A promising career in Masonry was ended by his untimely death on December 9, 1904, at the age of forty years. At the regular communication of the Lodge on February 1, 1905, a memorial service was held and resolutions adopted, eloquently setting forth the outstanding traits of his character. The following is quoted from the resolutions adopted: "In whatever position placed, in family, fraternal or business relations, from messenger boy to that of a trusted official in a corporation of great magnitude, his work was cared for faithfully and well. His short, active, usual life has ended quietly exemplifying to us who sorrow the beautiful declaration— Mark the perfect man and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace. " Brother William W. McClench, in an address, pointed out the three prominent traits of his character: industry, aptitude and fidelity. He closed with the expression of the hope of a life beyond the grave, which all mankind has cherished since the beginning of time. Brother Edward H. Lathrop dwelt particularly on the courage displayed in his last illness and closed with the sentiment that nothing better can be said of a man than that he was not only a good man, but a good Mason. Brother Chamberlain, in his records of the memorial service, says: "An incident at the close of the speaking was the spontaneous singing of one verse of the hymn "Nearer My God to Thee" by all the Brothers. This was occasioned by the organist playing the hymn as the lights were closed."

The tenth anniversary of Springfield Lodge was celebrated on April 27, 1904, with Worshipful Master George F. Barden presiding. Worshipful Brother Walter G. Morse, in an able address, outlined the history of the Lodge. Right Worshipful Samuel B. Spooner, Past Master of Roswell Lee Lodge, eloquently portrayed the relation of Operative to Speculative Masonry and closed with congratulations to Springfield Lodge.

Under the leadership of the Worshipful Master, George S. Perkins, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the constitution of the Lodge was celebrated by a banquet at the Hotel Kimball on April 15, 1919, and a ball at the Municipal Auditorium on April 16th. At the banquet, Most Worshipful Grand Master Arthur D. Prince, Most Worshipful Edwin B. Holmes, who constituted Springfield Lodge, and distinguished Masons of the Grand Master's Suite and of the Eighteenth and http://masonicgenealogy.com/MediaWiki/index.php?title=MASpringfield33_1911-1926 Thirty-third] Masonic Districts were present.

Eight members of Springfield Lodge have served the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge as District Deputy Grand Master — Harry W. Haskins, D. Edward Miller, [http://masonicgenealogy.com/MediaWiki/index.php?title=MAGLGGordon Gurdon W. Gordon, George L. Fenn, Edward G. Marshman, H. Greeley Randall, Harold E. Hartwell and Robert B. Warner. Worshipful Brothers D. Edward Miller and H. Greeley Randall served the Grand Lodge as Senior Grand Warden and Junior Grand Warden, respectively. Gurdon W. Gordon has served the Grand Lodge as Deputy Grand Master.

On June 24, 1924, officers and members of Springfield, Roswell Lee, Hampden, Esoteric, Samuel D. Sherwood, Samuel Osgood and Charles C. Spellman Lodges, together with the officers and members of Hartford and Springfield Commanderies, formed a procession at Park and Main Streets and escorted Most Worshipful Grand Master Dudley H. Ferrell and Suite to the site of the Temple in which we are meeting tonight. With impressive ceremonies, the corner stone of the building was laid by the Most Worshipful Grand Master in accordance with ancient Masonic usage. The contribution of Springfield Lodge to the contents of the box in the corner stone of the Temple was: a copy of its calendar for the month of June, 1924, containing a complete list of its members; a copy of its by-laws and a copy of the program celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of Springfield Lodge.

The world of the founders of Springfield Lodge was a far different world from the one in which we now live. "One World" could not have been written in 1894. Then the Great Lights shown brightly on the altars of Freemasonry in all parts of the civilized world. Today, many lands, Masonically speaking, are places of darkness. At this very hour our sons and brothers are fighting and dying in the far flung corners of the earth. What it means and what will be the ultimate outcome no man knoweth. Let us hope and pray that a Divine Intelligence is at work so that the time will ultimately come when the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man will prevail in the uttermost 3arts of the world.

OTHER

  • 1936 (Reduction of fees authorized, 1936-38)

GRAND LODGE OFFICERS

DISTRICTS

1894: District 16 (Chicopee)

1902: District 16 (Springfield)

1911: District 18 (Springfield)

1927: District 18 (Springfield)


LINKS

Massachusetts Lodges


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