In 1875, Welland Lodge
No. 36, which met in Fonthill, presented our petition for Constitution
to the Grand Master, M. W. Bro. J. K. Kerr. Dispensation was granted late in
1875, and the first official meeting was held on January 11, 1876 in
Leonard Durham's hotel with nine members present. This hotel was next
door to our present lodge hall eastwardly. At this first meeting the
lodge had to borrow $125.00 from three of its members to pay the
accounts.
The names of the first
members of the lodge are as follows:
...... Dr. John S.
McCallum - who was our first Master and who left in August 1877 to take
his practice to Smith's Falls.
...... John C. Gracey -
Merchant, who died December 11, 1877.
...... Dilly C. Holmes -
who was active until at least 1924, past his 80th birthday, which the
lodge celebrated by a visitation of the Members and their wives.
...... Nicholas Shafley
- Farmer, who was active many years and died in 1924.
...... James Rice -
Lumber dealer, deceased in 1888.
...... John E. Cohoe -
was still active in 1924.
...... Leonard Durham -
Hotel keeper, suspended June 3, 1885.
...... Peter Swarts -
Shoemaker, deceased 1905.
...... Benjamin
Sutherland - Merchant, suspended December 14, 1880.
The D.D.G.M. on his
first visit suggested, for obvious reason, the lodge acquire a new hall
as soon as possible. So, in 1878 a new lodge room which was located in a
building two lots west of the present location, was leased for $34.00
per year from Walter Misener. Lodge met there from 1879 to 1888, when
the brethren moved to Mr. James Sheldon's building which was practically
across the road from our present location. On May 3, 1903 the present
Lodge building was purchased from the widow of Brother William Zink for
the sum of $125.00. The building was located across the street from our
present location and it is thought, at that time, to have been used as a
hardware store. It remained there until November 1914 and then it was
moved to our present location
which was purchased in 1913 from J.L. Heaslip for the sum of $200.00.
It is noted by W. Bro.
Ewart Cass that when he became a member in 1940 the building was heated
with two airtight stoves which were, at that time, in bad shape. The
heating system was later changed to oil and then, again, made the full
circle back to gas.
In 1952 the kitchen and
washroom were added.
Even though the lodge
was badly in need of finances when it was started, the first three
candidates were turned down. The next three were received. The
initiation fee at that time was $20.00 and annual dues were $1.50. And
as it is much the same today with many lodges, the new lodge had trouble
with arrears in dues. Some members appear to have been suspended and
restored more than once. Restoration seems to have been $5.00 plus
current dues, but some seemed to have been made to pay all arrears. It
is noted in a portion of the 1881 minutes that about half the
applications for initiation were rejected for no apparent reason. In
order to stop any individual from taking his spite out on any candidate,
the Worshipful Master at that time, Nicholas Shafley proposed that the
ballot must show at least two black balls to disqualify a candidate.
Meetings for many years
were held on the Tuesday on or before the full moon. The reason was that
at that time they could see where the mud puddles were, and avoid them
especially when the roads were so bad that they had to walk to lodge.
In these early years the
Niagara district included all the lodges from Caledonia east to Fort
Erie.
A few interesting facts:
Nov. 29, 1887 - The
first church service was held in the Church of England in the Village.
Half the collection went to the minister, the other half to the English
Church.
1900 - The present seal
of Dufferin Lodge No. 338 was bought for $5.00.
1903 - Territorial
jurisdiction haunted Dufferin Lodge No. 338. Amity in Dunnville, Ivy
Lodge in Smithville, and Merrit Lodge in Welland. The latter ordered a
committee to have the distance between Wellandport and Fenwick and
Fenwick to Welland measured. Bro. Jacob Huber was paid $2.00 and Bro.
John Newby was paid $1.50 for walking and measuring the distance.
1903 - A portion of one
meeting's accounts reveal: Mrs. Durham, 33 meals and horse feed, $8.75.
1919 - St. George's
Lodge No. 15, St. Catharines presented a beautiful set of door knockers
to this lodge, and they are still in use today.
1924 - Electric lights
were proposed.
1926 - Our 50th
Anniversary.
1929 - Niagara District
was divided into A and B.
1944 - Neil Jones was
initiated. The evening was late and a feast of pancakes were prepared
for all on a wood stove in the lodge hall at 1 o'clock in the morning.
1945 - Date of regular
meetings set for second Tuesday of each month instead of Tuesday on or
before the full moon.
1962 - Applications were
received from three Davis Brothers, Douglas, Edward, Alex and a
brother-in-law, Bruce Stayzer.
Sept., 1962 - W. Bro.
Donald Cass presented to Dufferin Lodge an Immediate Past Master Jewel,
to be worn by the I.P.M. and passed on to his successor. The donation
was from W. Bro. Donald Cass and W. Bro. Gordon Bayes.
May 18, 1971 - W. Bros.
John Rigg and George Stillwell presented the lodge with a plaque in
honour of their fathers. This plaque has the names of the Past Masters
over the last 100 years.
1972 - R.W. Bro. Neil
Jones was installed as District Deputy Grand Master of Niagara District
"A". His Secretary was W. Bro. George Harris.
1975 - Wm. Heaslip was
elected W.M. for our Centennial year. The lodge set out to raise
$3000.00 for the Centennial Fund.
Nov. 5, 1975 - We were
granted permission to wear gold braid.
1976 - Our 100th
anniversary.
Fall, 1981 - The lodge
was rewired and a new ceiling installed in the banquet room.
June, 1982 - The floor
of the banquet room collapsed under the weight of some of the Brethren at
our Installation. It was repaired that summer.
1985 - R.W. Bro. William
E. Heaslip was installed as District Deputy Grand Master of Niagara
District "A". His Secretary was W. Bro. Sam Kingma.
1986 - The exterior of
the Lodge building was painted.
Dec, 1989 - R. W. Bro.
Neil Jones was honoured for 26 years of service as the secretary of the
lodge. He had retired from the position in June of that year.
1999 - R.W. Bro. R.
Bruce McLennan was installed as District Deputy Grand Master of Niagara
District "A". His Secretary was W. Bro. John Rigg.
1993 - The building was
covered with new vinyl siding.
Fall, 2003 - Installed
new gas furnace. |