"We are one of the oldest fraternal organizations in the county," said Glyn Haley master of the Madison Masonic Lodge 126.
The group was formed officially in 1853 and received it's charter from the Grand Lodge of Texas in 1854 and will celebrate it's 150 birthday this Saturday at 10 a.m. at the lodge building on Masonic Drive. The building is new but all the groups ceremonies are held under the watchful eyes of past lodge masters dating back to 1873, whose pictures line the walls of the lodges meeting room. Haley is a second generation Mason and a member for more than three decades, 15 of them in Orange.
"My Daddy always told me that Masonry cannot make a good man out of you but it can take a good man and make him better," Haley said.
The history of the fraternal order of Free Mason's date back to the period of Cathedral building from the 900s to the 1600s. Masons or stoneworkers that traveled from village to village building the Cathedrals formed guilds often called lodges in those days. When the period of Cathedral building ended in the 1600 the guilds formed into fraternal societies and the four largest of these united under one banner in 1717 under the Grand Lodge of England. The Madison Lodge kept it's name when the county seat adopted the name of Orange 16 years after the counties founding under pressure from the state of Texas because the name was similar to a town called Madisonville in another part of the state.
One of the Madison lodge's founders Hugh Ochiltree was a veteran of the Mexican-American War moved to Orange after its creation in 1852 and began holding meetings and lobbying for the creation of an Orange Chapter. After its creation the lodge originally met in a two story wooden building in the area of Moss and Market Streets. It was destroyed in 1865 in the hurricane that nearly destroyed the city itself. After several years in rented buildings Another wooden building served the group until 1929 when a three floor brick building on Fifth and Elm Streets was built. A few years ago the group moved to its present home on Masonic Drive. The Masons pride themselves on not being tied to any one religious group or sect but always keep a bible open in the center of the room when conducting ceremonies Haley said. They often refer to God as the great architect of the universe and their symbols and rituals are based on the builders tools. Saturday's ceremonies will include the introduction of the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Texas, the Most Worshipful Master Reese L. Harrison a Lunch will be served following the program. Famous Masons include Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Frederick the Great of Prussia, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the French author Voltaire and among the past Masters of the Madison is County Court-at-Law Judge David Dunn.