A BRIEF HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE'S LODGE

INCEPTION AND BEGINNING

Freemasonry was introduced to the Niagara area with the arrival of the 8th Regiment of Foot in 1792 and their Masonic traveling warrant No. 156 from the Grand Lodge (Ancients) of England. St, John's Lodge of Friendship No. 2 was then formed under the first Provincial Grand Lodge in 1792 which thrived until the War of 1812-14.

St. George's Lodge claims to have been founded in 1814 but there is evidence that no charter was granted until 1816, but this did not preclude, George Adams, one of the founders of St. George's Lodge to put forth a petition to the Provincial Grand Lodge to form St. George's on June 1st 1816 even though the war of 1812-14 was being fought during this founding period.

Since its inception, St. George's Lodge has met in many places in the St. Catharines area such as Samual Dobson's Tavern on Queenston St., the Mittleberger block near the corner of St Paul St. and its current location at the corner of Centre and Court Streets. Currently, seven other local lodges meet at the Masonic Hall on Centre St.

LODGE NUMBERS

Currently, St. George's Lodge carries the number 15, however, it is interesting to note that St. George's Lodge has carried other numbers such as the 27th Lodge on the Register of the First Provincial Grand Lodge and on the Grand Lodge of England (Ancients) the number 9 and 791 respectively. When the Grand Lodge of Canada was formed in 1855, the number 15 was assigned to St George's Lodge.

 

MEETING DAYS

The lodge meets for its regular meeting on the second Tuesday of each month with emergent meeting on the fourth Tuesday as required.
Tuesday has always been the meeting day of the lodge but not necessarily the second Tuesday for the regular meeting. In Article II of the bye-laws of 1890, which was identical to the previous one, it read in part as follows: "This lodge shall meet in the Masonic Temple, in the City of St. Catharines, on the Tuesday immediately before the full of the moon, except when it falls on a Tuesday, then it shall be held on that day, at eight o'clock in the evening..." Such was the case before the advent of street lights and automobile transportation and natural light was important.

A NEW LODGE IS FORMED

At a meeting on July 7 1857, a discussion took place in the Lodge which resulted in the following motion.

"Moved that in the opinion of this lodge from the large number of affiliated and non-affiliated members of the craft in this city and vicinity, the formation of a new lodge under the jurisdiction of the G.L. of Canada would be highly conducive to the general proficiency of Masonry and tend materially to stimulate officers and brethren in the discharge of their respective duties, and that in the event of a sufficient number of members in uniting together to petition the Grand Lodge for such a new lodge, the Worshipful Master and officers of this lodge would recommend that the prayer of the petition be granted:"

Immediately, a group of St. George's members began meeting to form a new lodge and success was attained on July 29th, 1858 to form Maple Leaf Lodge No. 103. Fifteen members of St. George's and several other local brethren became charter members of Maple Leaf Lodge and the sister of St. George's Lodge.

Following this, members of the two lodges who had attained the rank of Royal Arch Masons joined together and founded Mount Moriah Chapter No. 19. Still later, with the erection of the new Masonic Temple at 39 Ontario St., a third lodge, Temple Lodge No. 296 was instituted on April 2, 1873. It is interesting to note that the first Worshipful Master of Temple Lodge, Dr. Lucius S. Oille, was initiated in Maple Leaf Lodge, affiliated with St. George's Lodge five years later, led a committee that arranged for the organization of Temple Lodge and became its first master.

MASONRY AND ST. GEORGE'S LODGE

St George's Lodge No. 15, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, in 1989, reached its 175th Anniversary. As the lodge continues to grow in Masonic knowledge and fraternal brotherhood, experience teaches us to continue our work in brotherhood so that as we look back with humble pride on our accomplishments so we may be inspired to even greater accomplishments in the future for the good of Masonry in general and St. George's in particular.
In 1989 R.W. Bro. Anthony Robertson was our D.D.G.M. to help celebrate the lodge's 175th Anniversary and in November our long term Chaplain V.W. Bro. John Johnstone a dour Scott from the Old Country passed away. He came to St. Catharines in 1926.
In 1992 Walter Evans Thompson a Secretary from 1956 to 1972 passed to the G.L.A. He was principal of Connaught School for many years.
In 1993, May 11, R.W. Bro. Anthony Robertson, past D.D.G.M. died suddenly.
In 1994 on Sept. 3, V.W. Bro. John Lawrence Runnalls passed to the GLA. He was instrumental in starting the History of St. Georges Lodge and was also a contributor to the Grand Lodge Report Committee. He was a former School Inspector in the St. Catharines area.
In 1996 on May 12 our installed Master W. Bro. Peter Edwards attended the erection of a commemorative monument to the "Unknown Brother" as the body of a man was washed up on the shore of Lake Ontario near Jordan on 20th April 1877. W Bro. Edwards passed to the G.L.A. while in office on March 16, 1997. He was a former police chief. The Lodge helped arrange assistance for the children's education.
Also in 1997 V.W. Bro. Frederick Riches passed to the G.L.A., a former Executive with General Motors in St. Catharines. Many of the brethren came from G.M. because of his efforts.
In 1999 on Feb.3, a celebration was held for R.W. Bro. Allan Barnes a former D.D.G.M. who was presented with his 50 year pin by V.W. Bro. James B. Thompson. He was also an executive with G.M. and one month later on March 3 he passed to the G.L.A.
We held the 185th anniversary celebration Installation and Reception at the Temple in St. Catharines.
On December 31, 1999 a dinner dance was held at the Plumbers Hall in Thorold to celebrate the millennium at $80.00 per couple. It was well attended, and word was out that "hackers" were about to disrupt computer communications world wide and plans had been taken to try to shield most company computers against the Y2K problem by backing up most important information (nothing outstanding happened).
In 2000, Sept. 15, V.W. Bro. John B. Sainsbury's wife passed away releasing a very sizeable sum he had donated to the Temple Association. He was a former Bank Manager. That same year Bro. Frank Branscombe, a Real Estate Broker also donated a large sum of money to the lodge. He passed to the G.L.A. Feb. 24, 2003.
In 2003 R.W. Bro. Allister MacDonald was elected D.D.G.M. He hosted a reception at his residence for the lodge Masters and wives as well as the past G.L. District Officers. On Nov. 5 Bro. Colin Hearth a member of our lodge had a write up in the St. Catharines Standard regarding his coaching the cycling club in Las Tunas, Cuba, where he had taken up residence. On Sept. 20, P.M. Gerald Hunt locally known as "Spoofy the Clown" and well known in the area as well as in the Shriners passed to the G.L.A.
In 2004, during R.W. Allister MacDonald's term of office, V.W. Bro. James B. Thompson (District Historian) wrote a detailed memorandum of the meetings and year's activities and presented it to him for his memoirs.
In 2005 placemats were received from Grand Lodge showing pictures of the Grand Masters from its beginning to this time as it was the 150th anniversary of The Grand Lodge of Canada in the Province of Ontario. On October 1, a write up in the local paper detailed a former Peacekeeper in the person of W. Bro. Donald Bowman. Don had done much to assist the lodge by making out of wood a frame for the Past master of the lodge, a cabinet containing the square and compasses, a stand for the working tools to rest on, a re-furbishing of the jewels and collars of the officers, and new staffs and ribbons for the wands, also a stand to be use at installation to hold all the regalia, among other things. His hobby is woodworking and he does an excellent job. V.W. Bro. James B. Thompson who has been Historian for several years received his 50 year pin.
In 2006 W. Bro. John Dore who has been Chaplain for many years also received his 50 year Pin. It was presented by his former members of Speed Lodge, Guelph who came down to do the honours from his mother lodge.

"Freemasonry is an organized society of men symbolically applying the principles of operative masonry and architecture to the science of character building."