Holland Lodge No. 1, A.F. & A.M. of Texas
Houston, Harris County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Ancient Free & Accepted Masons of Texas. First Masonic Lodge in Texas. Organized in March 1835 at Brazoria. Set to work Dec. 27, 1835, under dispensation of Grand Lodge of Louisiana, for whose 1835-37 Grand Master, John Henry Holland, this lodge was named. Labors were interrupted in Feb. 1836, in Texas War for Independence, when lodge and records were destroyed by Mexican army during march of Gen. Urrea to join forces with Dictator Santa Anna. The charter, however, was then in saddlebags of Dr. Anson Jones, Texas patriot and first worshipful master of Holland Lodge, who carried the sacred document into battle and victory at San Jacinto, April 21, 1836. In Nov. 1837, Holland Lodge was reopened, in the Republic of Texas capitol (at site of present Rice Hotel), Houston. On Dec. 20, 1837, Holland Lodge No. 36 (the original designation under Grand Lodge of Louisiana) met with the only other Masonic bodies then existent in Texas-- Milam Lodge No. 40 of Nacogdoches and McFarland Lodge No. 41 of San Augustine-- and organized the Grand Lodge of the Republic of Texas. Dr. Anson Jones, of this lodge, was elected first grand master of the Grand Lodge of the Republic of Texas, and Holland Lodge was assigned the No. 1 designation.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Organized at Brazoria in 1835, Holland Lodge was the first Masonic lodge in Texas, working under a dispensation from Louisiana until the Texas Revolution scattered it. Its charter survived the war in the saddlebags of Dr. Anson Jones, who carried it to San Jacinto; reopened in 1837 in the young Republic's capital, the lodge helped found the Grand Lodge of the Republic of Texas and took the No. 1 designation.
Why it matters
The lodge threads Texas's fight for independence through its civic institutions, showing how fraternal and political leadership overlapped in the birth of the Republic.
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Related people
- · Anson Jones
- · John Henry Holland
Related events
- · Texas War for Independence
- · Battle of San Jacinto
Themes & tags
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