THE PENNSYLVANIA FREEMASON
Issued Ev ery Th re e Months By The Right Worshipful Grand ladg" of The Mast Ancient and Hanarabl" Fraternity of Fre., and Accepted Masons of p., nnsylvania and Masonic Jurisdiction Thereunto Belonging, th ro ugh its
COMMITIEE ON MASON IC CULTURE- William E y.,ager, Past Grand Master, Chairman; William E Montgomery, G. Ed ward Elwell Jr., Frank R. leech, William A. Carpente r Cha rl es A. Young and Ashby B Paul
APPROVED AND AUTHORIZED TO BE PRIN TED BY RALPH M. LEHR
Right Worshipfu Grand Master
WILLIAM A. CARPENTER Editor
Mailing Address : The Masonic Temple, Broad and Filbert Str eets, Philadelphia 7, Po.
Vol. II May, 1955 No.2
Lodge No . 22 Celebrates One Hundr ed Seventy-five Years
An unusually a ttrac ti ve and informat i ve Souve nir Progr am was publi s hed in co nn ecti on wi th the On e Hundred Sevent y-fifth Anni versary o f Lodge No. 22 o f Sunbury, P e nn sy lva nia. Bro ther Geo rge P. Druckemi ll er, wh o wa s W o r shipful Maste r of thi s Lodge in 1922 and a former Di s tri c t D e pu t y Grand Mas ter, pr od u ced thi s beau ti ful b ro c hure whi c h ' inclu des a co n c ise and most inte r es tin g His t or cal Ske t c h o f this Lod ge, o n e of th e oldest in P e nnsyl va nia. Th e fo ll owi n g exce r pts were t a k e n from thi s hi s tory:
" Wi th so many Mas ons who we r e probably members of Arm y or t rave llin g Lod ges being s tationed fr om time to time during th e Revolutionary W a r a t F or t Au g u s ta, which was lo ca e d jus t north o f the presen t town of Su nb ury, it was nat u r a l to h ave th e u rge to f orm a n ew Lodge here
Lodge Warranted in 1779
"Sunbury was la id o ut in 1772 an d seven years la t er L od ge No 22 cam e into b e ing . I n 1779 nine Brethre n, s uppo sedl y all members of Army L odges, a ppli ed o th e Provi n cial Grand L odge o f P e nn sy l vania f or a War rant , which was g r a nte d at th e Quarter ly Communi catio n of Grand Lodge h el d on O c t ober 4, 1779, a nd its fir s t S tate d Meeting was h e ld on th e followin g S t. J o hn 's Day
" I t s inte resting to note that th e in itiation fee in 1780 was se t at One Hundred Fi ft y D o llars ; a sizable amo unt in those days, and the dues were e ig ht dollars per me eting, probably large ly to cover the expenses of th e necessa ry refr es hm ents. T he s tated meeting nig ht was fi xed o n the night of th e full moon (except w h e n it occurred o n Sunday) a nd the L od ge t o this D ay m ee t s by the moon.
" Man y early m ee ti ngs had to be postponed du e t o the ravages o f the I nd ians who frequ e nte d th at area, many citizens in t h e Valley having lost th e i r li ves in th e I ndian raids of 1781.
" I n t h e ea rl y da ys o f th s L odge, o ffi cers
we r e e lec ted t wice each Maso ni c yea r , and th ey were in sta lled o n St. J o hn th e Ba p tis t 's
D ay, Jun e 24, as well as o n St. J o hn , th e
Evangelist's Da y, D ecember 27 Thi s prac ti ce con tinued unti 1818, when a nnu al elec ti ons were s tarted All bu siness in th e ear y era (until 1843), was tr a n sac ed in the Entered Appren ti ce l\•fa s on s Lodge so that a ll the B re thren co uld be presen t. An Entered Ap·
p r e nti ce had a vo te on all q u es ti ons and pe li· ti o ns a nd could h old a n y o ffi ce exce pt that of M as t er. It was so metime s yea r s befo re so me of th e Brethre n wer e made M as te r M aso n s
New Warrant in 1787
" I n 1787 the newly e s ab lis h ed Gra nd Lod ge o f Pennsy l vania, which had severe d its ties wi th En glan d , gran e d a n ew War rant t o L o d ge No 22. This Warrant s s t ll preserved under g a ss.
" Th e earl y mee tin gs o f thi s Lod ge were h e ld at the h omes of the membe r s or in taverns, ei th er in Su nbu ry or near- by Nor thu m be rland. S in ce 1809 i ts mee tin g place has bee n in S unbury As many of the meetings were h e ld i n t ave rn s , drink in g was o fte n as i mm oderate as th e feast in g, a n d t he L odge decoru m was probab y far different from tha t of to-da y It was n ot unti l 1906 that l iq u o r was banned at L odge ba nqu e s and Ma so ni c T e mpl es in this jur isdi ct ion.
" The wo rk of h e three degrees ha s also undergone man y c h a n ges in these 175 years, the s o ca ll ed "c h arts or M as e r s ca rp els" hav in g been removed from Blu e L odge rooms by e d ic t in 1890.
" Lodge No. 22 s ur vi ved th e Anti-Maso ni c period of 1826- 1838, and w hil e r ecord s indi cate o nl y nine of i ts s lated mee tin gs wer e om i t ed in these t r oubleso me ti mes th e allen dance was o ften very m eagre I n 1837 this was the only Lodge at Labor in Northumbe rland County New Te mpl e in 1908
" This L odge thro ug h out th e yea r s had m any m eeting places prior o th e com pl et io n in 1908 of th e prese nt M a s o n ic T e mpl e o n M a r ket S treet faci n g t h e Publ ic S quare. Th e T emple s uffe r e d a d est ru c tive fire in 1922, bu fortunat ely th e Lodge R oo m wa s able t o be u sed uninterruptedl y
"Th i rty-nine m e mbers of th e L odge se rved i n th e Armed for ces d u ring Wo rld War 1 a n d happi ly all thirty-n in e returned home afte r th e wa r w it ho ut any casual ties. Li ke man y othe r Lodges, L odge No. 22 h a d a large increase i n membe rs hip after the e nd o f th e War , the five year grow th being o n e hundre d n ew M e mbe r s
" On March 18 a nd 19, 1936, Sunbury suffered a seve r e flood wh e n the Susquehanna R iver ove rfl owed its ban ks Although there was 20 inc h es of wa te r o n th e sidewa l k in fr ont of the Maso n ic T e mple , no ser io u s damage r es ult ed . Th e ba nqu e t hall of the T emp e wa ;; occ u p ied for so me Lim e a f te r the fl ood by t he R e d Cross for th e r el ie f of fl ood vic tim s.
" T hir y- three Members of th e Lodge se r ved in World Wa r I [ an d prov ide ntiall y every
M e mber re turn ed h ome safel y as in th e first W o rld War. I n the five years after th s War, L odge No. 22 took in 91 Members
Third Old es t Lodge
" Lodge No. 22 claims to be the thi rd oldest
M asonic L odge in Penn sy lvan ia i n po int of co nt inu ous ex iste n ce , the oldes t Lodge No. 3 in Phi ade l phia and th e seco nd o ldes t, Perseve ran ce No. 21 o f H a rri s burg, w hi ch was warran t ed on the sa me day a s L o d ge No. 22. Lodge No. 22 furth e r c la i m s t h at the o th e r Lod ges which we r e o rgan ize d pri o r to it s ubs equen tl y s urren de r e d th e i r wa rrants, and seve ral o f the o ld e r numbe r s, 2, 9 a n d 19, were u sed in wa rranting la t er L o d ges.
" Lod ge No. 22 s till has in its po ssess ion many of it s ol d do c uments a nd f urnit ure, includ in g t h e warra nt iss ued by the Grand Lodge of P en nsy l vania, and a ll of th e minutes begin nin g with St. John's D ay, 1779 "Lodge No. 22 wi th close l o 500 M e mbers conti nu es to be one of th e mos t flourish in g Maso ni c bodies in thi s sec ti on of th e Commonwealth."
D eputy Grand Mast er V isits Gra nd L odge of Cuba (Co u liuucd from p ngt! 2) of th e vari o us G ran d Lo dges we re i nvi ted t o t he porch on th e fin, l floor of th e Temple, whe re we wi tn essed the dedicat ion ce remo n ies. As th e uedi cat io n cere monies fmi s hed, a la rge Cuban Fl ag, cove r ing th e full wid th of th e T emple, and reac hin g from th e ro of lo the seco nd floor , was unfurl ed, and out of it flew seve ral h u ndred wh it e do ves and at the same Li me, th e l ig hts of t he Temple were thr ow n o n, and the wife of th e Grand Ma ste r c ut th e s ilken cord o ffi c iall y ope n· in g th e T e mple.
It was my good fortune lo hav e deta iled to act as my g uide, Brothe r Luis M Rojas, a you ng Cuba n law ye r , and fo r the next three hours we were ta ken t o every floor of the T e mple, and it was n ot unt il n i ne o'clock Su nd ay eve ning ha t we had fu lly ins pec ed this mag nificent structure.
I co u ld not help but note t hat every Maso n, a nd I co n verse d wi th ma n y, was proud of his me mbers h ip and was mo re co n ce rn ed wit h wha t he c o uld do for Freemasonry th a n what Freemasonry co uld do for h i m. The Lodge rooms ca r ry th e patte rn as we k now it in Phi lade l phia, wit h their Co r i nthian Ha ll , Ionic Hall, Go th ic Ha ll, a nd o the rs, a ll pat terned af e r classic ar c hi ectu ral themes.
It was inte resting further t o note th a t all me mbers of th e Lod ges i n C ub a pay mo n thly d ues o f S2.50.
I can on ly say agai n th at I feel I was grea tl y honored in being permi tt ed to represe nt ou r Grand Lodge a t this inspiri ng ceremony and I was asked to bri ng back from Brot he r an d Dr. Carlos M. P i neiro y del Cueto, Mo s t Worshipful Grand Master, the fraternal g reetings of th e Maso ns of Cu ba Lo th e Maso ns of P e nn sy l va nia. CHAR
R
Deputy
