Mt. Hiram Lodge No. 595, A.F. & A.M.
Copperas Cove, Coryell County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Mt. Hiram Lodge No. 595 was chartered on December 12, 1884. Lodge members shared their first facility, a two-story structure located near present-day downtown Copperas Cove, with a public school. In its early years the lodge participated in a local volunteer company of Minutemen and helped develop this area's economy. The lodge relocated in 1894 to Main Street and Ave. D, above the J. S. Clements & Bro. Mercantile Store. Growth in its membership led to the building of a new lodge facility at this site in 1970. This lodge continues to serve the local community.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Chartered in 1884, Mt. Hiram Lodge No. 595 gathered the Masons of frontier-era Copperas Cove, first meeting in a two-story building it shared with the town's public school. In those early years its members joined a local company of Minutemen and worked to build up the area's economy. The lodge moved to quarters above a Main Street mercantile in 1894 and to its present home in 1970.
Why it matters
Fraternal lodges like this one were pillars of civic life in small Texas towns, doubling as schoolhouses and frontier defense and knitting scattered settlers into a community.
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Themes & tags
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