Post Oak Island Lodge #181, A.F. & A.M.
Elgin, Williamson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Settled as early as the 1840s, Post Oak Island was one of this area's earliest communities. There, on September 15, 1855, I.J. Kidd, T. Gatlin, P.A. Middleton, M. Gardner and A.S. Harper established a Masonic lodge. On February 2, 1856, the lodge was officially constituted as Post Oak Island Lodge #181, and by October 1860, lodge members had paid the mortgage on their lodge hall. They moved the hall in 1878 to Sam Smith Springs (Lawhon Springs), and in 1901, they moved it again, to Beaukiss. Despite the relatively small population of Beaukiss, the long-standing institution has maintained a high membership, pulled from the area's dispersed rural communities. (2006)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Post Oak Island was one of this area's earliest settlements, dating to the 1840s, and in 1855 a handful of local men founded a Masonic lodge there, formally constituted as No. 181 in 1856. As the countryside shifted, members literally moved their lodge hall twice, to Sam Smith Springs in 1878 and to Beaukiss in 1901. Despite tiny surrounding populations, the lodge drew steady membership from the scattered rural communities.
Why it matters
The lodge's wandering hall captures the mobility of frontier Texas settlement, where institutions followed people across a thinly populated landscape.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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