Flora Lodge No. 119, A.F. & A.M.
Quitman, Wood County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Founded before the Civil War, as Quitman Masonic Lodge. Petition for charter was made on Jan. 5, 1852. First officers: James N. Brown, Worshipful Master; A. Gunter, Senior Warden; Francis C. McKnight, Junior Warden. Petitioners (other than the officers) included George Birdwell, W. L. Brown, S. M. Flournoy, I. D. Goes, E. H. McRee, I. H. McRee, M. W. Matthews, and Joshua Smith. Without any recorded explanation, the lodge was given its present name on Christmas Day of 1852. Original furniture was made by illustrious Wood County pioneer Peter Gunstream at cost of $10.75. In 1854 fire destroyed lodge charter, jewels, and furniture. Combination Presbyterian church and lodge hall was built on this site and occupied in 1855. Members voted to prohibit smoking on the premises. Ending of Civil War found the lodge penniless and hard pressed to pay 30 cents a pound for candles bought in 50 pound lots. In 1917 electric lighting closed a 65-year time span of candles and kerosene lamps. The early lodge worked diligently, often meeting on Saturday mornings, dismissing to attend preaching services downstairs, and afterward resuming work. Flora Lodge built new two-story structure at this historic location in 1949. (1972)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Freemasonry followed Anglo settlers into frontier Texas, and this lodge petitioned for its charter in 1852, taking the name Flora on Christmas Day of that year. Early members met in a combined Presbyterian church and lodge hall built in 1855, working by candlelight and kerosene until electricity arrived in 1917, and rebuilding after an 1854 fire destroyed their charter and furnishings. The plain details of their record — 30-cent candles bought by the pound, Saturday-morning meetings paused for preaching — capture the texture of pioneer community life.
Why it matters
Fraternal lodges provided structure, charity, and civic order in raw new settlements, forming one of the connective tissues of nineteenth-century American town-building.
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Related people
- · James N. Brown
- · Peter Gunstream
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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Wood County
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Wood County was created in February 1850 and organized that August, taking its name from George T. Wood — a member of the Congress of the Republic of Texas, an officer in the Mexican War, and governor of the young state from 1847 to 1849. Quitman was designated its seat.
Wood County Courthouse
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When the Texas legislature created Wood County in 1850, it named Quitman the county seat, which began governing from a humble log courthouse. Fire repeatedly claimed its successors — a frame structure in 1878 and F.E. Ruffini's building in 1924 — before the present Classical Revival courthouse rose with its columned temple front and pedimented entablature. It has anchored the county square ever since.