Gladewater Lodge No. 852, A.F. & A.M.
Gladewater, Gregg County, Texas
Marker Inscription
On November 15, 1900, twenty master masons, many from Longview Masonic Lodge No. 404, presented a petition to form a separate lodge. On April 19, 1901, Grand Master Nat M. Washer issued the dispensation, and Daniel Washington Wood served as first Worshipful Master of the new lodge. It formally chartered in December 1901 with 29 members. From 1901 to 1931, members met in James A. Ponder’s general store, which also housed the post office, on the northwest corner of Main and Pacific. During the lodge’s formative years, members included prominent early businessmen, clergymen, professionals and civic leaders of Gladewater. Among them was Dr. Earl George McLaughlin, who opened the city’s first hospital and invented a medication during the influenza epidemic of 1918 that earned him national acclaim. Sharing a common early history with the lodge is Chapter 831, Order of the Eastern Star. Chartered in 1932, the group has long been active in its support of lodge projects and activities. The lodge met for a time in a schoolhouse and in the Measles Hotel before building its own hall at this site. It first met here on July 1, 1940, and members formally dedicated the building in September of that year. They held meetings upstairs and leased the first floor space to a number of enterprises, including the Gladewater Daily Times-Tribune. Lodge members have served the Grand Lodge of Texas as district deputy grand masters and actively supported Masonic projects. Locally, they contribute to many worthwhile community and educational programs, including annual scholarships. Today, Gladewater Lodge No. 852 serves as an integral part of the city’s future, as well as a reminder of its rich history. (2005)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
On the eve of the twentieth century, twenty master masons — many from the Longview lodge — petitioned to form their own fraternal lodge, chartered in December 1901 with Daniel Washington Wood as first Worshipful Master. For three decades members met above James Ponder's general store, and their ranks included leading Gladewater businessmen, clergy, and civic figures, among them Dr. Earl McLaughlin, who won national notice for a remedy devised during the 1918 influenza epidemic. In 1940 the lodge dedicated its own hall, long a fixture of the town's civic life through scholarships and community programs.
Why it matters
Fraternal lodges like this were the connective tissue of small-town America, knitting together a community's leaders and funneling their energies into schools, charity, and civic improvement.
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Related people
- · Daniel Washington Wood
- · Earl George McLaughlin
Related events
- · 1918 influenza epidemic
Themes & tags
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