US Presidents

Most brethren are aware that George Washington was a freemason and the list of masonic Presidents is lengthy, but how many are aware of the lodges in which they joined. Here are some Presidents and their known lodges:

Andrew Jackson (7th President) was a member of Harmony Lodge No. 1 in Nashville, Tennessee. Seven years before he was elected president, Jackson served as the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Tennessee from 1822 to 1824. He was an Honorary Member of Federal Lodge No. 1, F. & A.M., Washington, D.C., and Jackson Lodge No. 1, F. & A.M., Tallahassee, Florida.

In 1820, James K. Polk (11th President) was initiated into Columbia Lodge No. 21 or 31 in Columbia, Tennessee. Polk received the Mark Degree at Lafayette Chapter No. 4, Nashville, in 1825.

In 1817, James Buchanan (15th President) was initiated into Lodge No. 43, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Buchanan also served as a District Deputy Grand Master in the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania.

Another Tennessean, Andrew Johnson (17th President) was initiated into Greeneville Lodge, No. 119 in Greeneville, Tennessee, in 1851. Historians have noted that Johnson was also a Knight Templar, a Royal Arch Mason, and a Scottish Rite Mason. In this image to the left, Johnson stands for a portrait in his Knights Templar regalia.

In 1861, James Garfield (20th President) was initiated into Magnolia Lodge No. 20 of Columbus, Ohio. Because of his Civil War service, Garfield did not receive the Master Mason degree until 1864. It was conferred by Columbus Lodge No. 30 of the same city. Committed to Freemasonry, Garfield also became a member of the Knights Templar, the Royal Arch, and the Scottish Rite. In 1881, only months after being elected, an assassin killed Garfield. Masons across the United States publicly mourned his death.

William McKinley (24th President) became a Mason in 1865 while serving as a Union officer during the Civil War at Hiram Lodge No. 21 in Winchester, Virginia. He was a founding member of Eagle Lodge No. 431 in Canton, Ohio. The lodge changed its name to William McKinley Lodge No. 431 after McKinley was assassinated in 1901.

In 1901, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt was initiated into Matinecock Lodge No. 806 in Oyster Bay, New York. A few months later, William McKinley was assassinated, and Roosevelt became the 25th president. Roosevelt continued to attend lodges and Masonic ceremonies throughout his presidency. In this 1907 photograph of a cornerstone laying at Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown, Massachusetts, Roosevelt stands at the centre wearing the apron.

In 1909, at a special ceremony in Cincinnati,