Caledonia Lodge No. 68, A. F. & A. M.
Columbus, Colorado County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Organized 1850; chartered Jan. 24, 1851; on Feb. 3, 1851, founded Columbus Female Seminary, first educational institution in Columbus. Built 2-story structure to house school downstairs, lodge hall above. Also (1857) founded Colorado College, city's first public school.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Chartered in early 1851, Caledonia Lodge did what many frontier Masonic lodges did on the Texas frontier — it became the town's first schoolhouse builder. Within weeks the Masons founded the Columbus Female Seminary, the first school in Columbus, raising a two-story building with classrooms below and their lodge hall above. In 1857 they went further and founded Colorado College, the town's first public school.
Why it matters
Long before states funded public education, fraternal lodges and churches were the ones who opened the first schoolhouses on the American frontier — and notably, this one educated girls from the start.
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Related events
- · Founding of Columbus Female Seminary
Themes & tags
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