Chalk Mountain Masonic Lodge #894 A.F. & A.M.
Stephenville, Erath County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Fourteen charter members organized Chalk Mountain Masonic Lodge on Dec. 8, 1904. Joe Dotson was elected the first worshipful master. Lodge member J.H. Underwood built a two-story frame building by 1908 with a first floor grocery store and second story lodge assembly space. Meetings occurred on Saturdays on or after a full moon. The store closed in the 1930s but the lodge continued to meet on the upper floor until 1989. Stacy Bright donated a new one-acre site about 1/4 mile away. At the new location, the lodge built a concrete block first floor, then moved the original historic second floor on May 6, 1989. The lodge continues with a dedicated band of masons in service to the area. (2022)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Fourteen charter members organized the Chalk Mountain Masonic Lodge in December 1904, and by 1908 a member had built a two-story frame building whose ground floor held a grocery store and whose upper floor hosted lodge meetings—held, by tradition, on the Saturday on or after each full moon. The store closed in the 1930s, but Masons continued to meet upstairs until 1989, when the historic second story was lifted and moved a quarter-mile to a new site. The lodge still gathers there today.
Why it matters
Rural fraternal lodges like this one were civic and social anchors of small Texas communities, doubling as commercial hubs in an era when a single building often served many needs.
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Related people
- · Joe Dotson
- · J.H. Underwood
- · Stacy Bright
Themes & tags
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