‘St. John’s Lodge installation’

    

Look to the West!
Ionic Hall, Masonic Building, Boston.

There’s something infectious about the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts’ claim to be the oldest in the New World (and third eldest in the world, after England and Ireland) when you are inside the Masonic Building in Boston, the Grand Lodge’s headquarters. Yes, Pennsylvania Masons say something about that claim—and, as far as I’m concerned, the current English grand lodge dates only to 1813!—but when the Massachusetts Grand Master says it inside Ionic Hall on the occasion of the 154th installation of officers of St. John’s Lodge… it’s just extremely persuasive!

The original grapes!

Furthermore, this lodge dates to July 30, 1733, when it began meeting at the Bunch of Grapes tavern, prompting the claim that it is “the oldest Masonic lodge in the Western Hemisphere.” Again, the Philadelphians harrumph, and there even is local confusion thanks to some accounts pointing to some lodge holding meetings in King’s Chapel in Boston in the 1720s(!), but this edition of The Magpie Mason is the first in a series on the past weekend’s celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, which united Masons and other groups in proud remembrance. The photo at right shows the original grapes that hung outside the tavern in the 1700s! Straightforward advertising signage in a time of near universal illiteracy. They are displayed in the East for special occasions.

St. John’s is an amalgamation of First Lodge, Second Lodge, and Third Lodge, the originals of that period, if I understand correctly.

I had to disable my IroniMeter2000™️ because what passes for government in Boston and Massachusetts today seems an impossible fate to befall the land of the Boston Massacre, Tea Party, Shot Heard ’Round the World, Bunker Hill, and so much more in the birth of this nation.

Worshipful Master Mark and his officers.

Anyway, preceding St. John’s installation, there was the Historic Tavern Tour, originally a six-stop pub crawl until Democracy Brewing backed out at the last minute for some reason. But the brethren persevered and marched from Elephant & Castle to Sam Adams Tap Room to Union Oyster House to Bell in Hand Tavern to, at last, the Green Dragon Tavern.

I had signed up for this, but reconsidered. It was to begin at three o’clock; the installation was set for 6 p.m. I figured all the walking, the waiting for drink (and food) orders, and the drinking and eating would not be possible in that timeframe. I really wanted to attend this installation. And I don’t take alcohol before lodge meetings anyway. Someday I will get back up there when I have more time, and I’ll visit those esteemed establishments—especially the Green Dragon!

MWGM Hamilton, center, with his retinue.

But the installation was pretty quick, open to families and friends, and elegant. W. Bro. Mark is the new Worshipful Master. Huzzah! (There was a lot of that during the weekend.) Grand Master George F. Hamilton presided in the East. I didn’t know a soul in the room except for Bro. Rob, who traveled from the South to the West; and Bro. Rich, the new Grand Historian in New Jersey, on the sidelines.

The Three Great Lights.

They had an official photographer, who gradually is sharing his work on Faceypage, but these are authentic Magpie photos. Yet again, I regret not bringing a real camera.

I’d had a really long Friday, rising at about 3 a.m. so, by the time the lodge closed, I was happy to return to the hotel and collapse.

I always check out regalia,
especially in historic lodges.

One thing in particular said by MW Hamilton really caught my ear. He mentioned how Fourth Estate Lodge had consolidated with St. John’s Lodge. Fourth Estate consisted of newspaper journalists and, it is said, every paper in the city was represented in its membership. I have read a little about this lodge in my research of my own lodge, Publicity 1000. Publicity was instituted October 30, 1922, and Fourth Estate was constituted October 2, 1923. I don’t know if there ever was any interaction, visitation, etc. between the two. Fourth Estate consolidated with St. John’s on May 23, 1985. Hugo Tatsch was a member in the thirties! We got Haywood from Iowa, and they got Tatsch from Iowa.

Once upon a time, the Masonic Building had DC power and these handles controlled the electricity in Ionic Hall. Kelitrol Stage Switchboard, installed by Clark & Mills Electric Co.

Congratulations and happy 290th anniversary to St. John’s Lodge! It felt like a warm and welcoming place.

MW Melvin M. Johnson, Grand Master, 1914-16.