Mount Moriah Lodge No. 37, A. F. & A. M.
Coldspring, San Jacinto County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Chartered by the Grand Lodge of Texas on January 15, 1848, this lodge first convened in the Mount Pleasant settlement. Early meetings were held at Fireman's Hill in a schoolhouse owned by Henry Gillette. That building was moved to Coldspring in 1853. Early members of the lodge included many Republic of Texas pioneers, as well as distinguished public officials of Polk and San Jacinto counties. The town of Coldspring was relocated after a 1915 fire, and the lodge moved to the new townsite in 1923. A new lodge hall was built in 1962.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Chartered by the Grand Lodge of Texas in January 1848, Mount Moriah Lodge No. 37 first gathered in the Mount Pleasant settlement, meeting in a Fireman's Hill schoolhouse that was hauled to Coldspring in 1853. Its rolls carried many Republic of Texas pioneers and leading officials of Polk and San Jacinto counties. After an 1915 fire forced Coldspring to relocate, the lodge followed to the new townsite and built a fresh hall.
Why it matters
Founded in the Republic's twilight, the lodge links Texas's independent nationhood to the civic institutions that carried its pioneer communities into statehood.
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Related people
- · Henry Gillette
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
San Jacinto County Courthouse
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After fire destroyed San Jacinto County's courthouse in 1915, landowners donated a site and moved the seat of government to "new town" Coldspring, where builders raised this Italian Renaissance–style courthouse in 1916–17 from brick fired locally out of native clay. Merchants and residents followed the courthouse, and within a decade the old town stood deserted. Despite 1936 alterations, its arched doors and windows still carry the original design.
Governor George Tyler Wood
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The land beneath Coldspring began as a Mexican grant to Col. Robert Rankin, a veteran of the American Revolution. Its post office cycled through colorful names — "Coonskin," then "Fireman's Hill," and finally "Cold Springs" — before settling on the modern spelling in 1850. After fire destroyed the wooden courthouse in 1915, a stone replacement rose in 1918, and by 1923 most of the town had relocated up the hill to its present site. Early academies and an 1880 "Male and Female Institute" educated its children.
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