Lodge History

    The story of Masonry in Oklahoma begins on April 30, 1803, when Robert L. Livingston and James Monroe, Master Masons, negotiated with the French Minister of Finance for the purchase of Louisiana Territory.  The United States was represented by President Thomas Jefferson, a Master Mason, while the French were represented by Marbois, who may not have been a Mason at the time he signed the Treaty, but who was reported at one time to have been an initiate.  Merriwether Lewis witnessed the signature of the President.  Lewis and William Clark, both Master Masons, explored the entire area.  However, that part of Louisiana which is now Oklahoma was first officially visited by Captain Zebulon Pike, a Master Mason, prominent in the Craft in 1806.  He explored the territory of the Arkansas River to the Mississippi and on to New Orleans.

    In 1824 Fort Gibson and Fort Towson became headquarters for Colonel Matthew Arbuckle, a Master Mason.  Colonel Arbuckle, with advice from Pierre Choteau, a noted fur trader and Master Mason, became a commanding figure in every activity of the early Indian arrival into the area.

    Masons who played important roles among the Cherokee people include Elias C. Boudinot, delegate to Confederate Congress, Colonel in Confederate States of America, lawyer, whose father was the first editor of the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper; John Ridge, leader of the Cherokee people and signed the Treaty of New Echota; Will Rogers, humorist and philanthropist; Cherokee Chief John Ross; Cherokee Chief William P. Ross; and Stand Watie, signed the Treaty of New Echota and the last Confederate General to surrender the colors during the War Between the States.  Charles Moore, who also signed the Treaty of New Echota on December 29, 1835, is the fifth great-grandfather of one of the Wagoner Masonic Lodge No. 98 members.

    Cherokee Masons petitioned the Grand Lodge of Arkansas for dispensation to open a Lodge in Tahlequah.  The efforts of the brethren were so satisfactory that the Grand Lodge F. & A.M. of Arkansas issued a charter to Cherokee Lodge No. 21 on November 7, 1848.  After the War Between the States, three of six lodges under the allegiance of the Grand Lodge of Arkansas organized themselves into a Convention and the Grand Lodge of Indian Territory came into existence on October 5, 1874.  On November 10, 1892, the Grand Lodge of Oklahoma Territory began with the aid and assistance of the Grand Lodge of Indian Territory.  The two Grand Bodies were formally united as the Grand Lodge of Oklahoma during the convention of February 8, 1909, naming Joseph S. Murrow as one of two Grand Secretaries.  Murrow was a Southern Baptist missionary who traveled Oklahoma establishing more than 100 Southern Baptist churches, the first Baptist Orphans Home for Indian children in Atoka, Bacone College in Muskogee, and 60 Masonic lodges earning him the distinction of being known as "the father of Freemasonry in Oklahoma."  Oklahoma remains to be the only state to have formed three separate Grand Lodges by convention. 

    Wagoner was named after Henry Samuel “Bigfoot” Wagoner who decided the KATY Railroad needed a switch to load cattle and lumber from the area between Flat Rock and Gibson Station in 1883.  The first permanent residents arrived in Wagoner on June 5, 1887 -- William H. and Sallie H. McAnnally started the Cottonwood Hotel.

    On February 25, 1888, the town’s request for a post office was granted and William W. Teague, a native of Indiana, was named the city’s first postmaster.  Samuel S. Cobb, Master Mason, became the second postmaster on July 24, 1890.  Cobb was also called “the financial power in Wagoner” by Brad Agnew, Ph.D., in his book titled Wagoner, I.T. – “Queen City of the Prairies”. 

    The Masonic Lodge was organized in Wagoner in 1895 – when Wagoner was still in Indian Territory.  John Coyle of Valley Lodge No. 6, Pauls Valley, served as Grand Master during this period.  Coyle brought a wealth of experience to the Grand Lodge of Indian Territory as he had served his lodge as Worshipful Master for a non-consecutive total of fourteen years.  On March 1, several members of the community who were Masons from other states gathered to write the Grand Lodge of Indian Territory so that a Lodge might be opened in Wagoner.

    The meeting was called to order by W.B. Davis, T.A. Parkinson, S.S. Cobb and James Gates.  Among those attending was Leo E. Bennett, who gave instructions on how to properly petition the grand lodge.  Bennett served as Grand Master longer than any other in the history of Freemasonry in the area that is now Oklahoma -- 1889, 1890, 1891, and 1892.  He also served as an Indian Agent, U.S. Marshal in the Indian Territory, and elected as Mayor of the City of Muskogee.  Bennett was raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason on June 1, 1886, in Belle Point Lodge No. 20, of Fort Smith, Arkansas and affiliated with Muskogee Lodge No. 28 on March 15, 1889.

    That same evening the lodge elected its first officers:  James Gates as Worshipful Master, and W.H. Jackson as Secretary.  S.S. Cobb was elected Senior Warden and T.A. Parkinson as Junior Warden.  The name of the new lodge was to be the same as the town’s – Wagoner.

    However, during the group’s second meeting held March 16, 1895, at the Episcopal Church, a motion was made to change the group’s name from Wagoner Lodge to St. John’s Lodge.  Dues were paid to the state and the lodge was named St. John’s Lodge No. 83, Free and Accepted Masons.  A letter of dispensation was given to St. John's Lodge of Wagoner on March 27, 1895, by Grand Secretary Joseph S. Murrow.  On April 2, 1895, Alexander Clingan Cobb became the first initiated Entered Apprentice of the lodge.  He was passed to the degree of Fellow Craft on May, 25, 1895, and raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason on June 8, 1895.

    In January of 1896, Wagoner became the first town in Indian Territory to incorporate.  The town held its first election on April 28, 1896, electing two Master Masons to office:  Captain William Jackson as mayor and Terry Parkinson as a city counselor.  Parkinson later served as Wagoner’s fifth mayor in 1902, county clerk, and state representative from 1919 to 1921.

    St. John’s Lodge No. 83 was changed back to Wagoner Lodge and the group was given the number 98 on February 10, 1909, since the lodge was now under the Grand Lodge of Oklahoma instead of the Grand Lodge of Indian Territory.

    The lodge met for many years in the upstairs area over Castle and Hoefle Hardware on South Main.  On December 1, 1962, they moved to their present location on the west side of Wagoner.

    Today, Wagoner Lodge No. 98 has about 160 members.  Most men who go about their jobs and professions with no hint they are Freemasons except for the way they lead their lives.  Several politicians have belonged to Wagoner Masonic Lodge No. 98 over the years, including:  two state representatives, one state senator, one district judge, one assistant district judge, one special district judge, two district attorneys, seven mayors, four city counselors, two county clerks, four school board members, one sheriff, one police chief, two Wagoner County Democratic Party chairmen, and one Wagoner County Republican Party chairman.

    On the national scene, George Washington and 13 other Presidents, 8 Vice Presidents, and 42 Justices of the Supreme Court have been Masons from various lodges.  10 Masons signed the Articles of Association, 9 Masons signed the Declaration of Independence, 13 Masons signed the Constitution of the United States, 33 Masons served as General Officers of the Continental Army (8 Masons served as Aides and Military Secretaries to George Washington), and 9 Masons signed the Articles of Confederation.

    The lodge is made up of men from all different types of vocations:  farmers, cattlemen, business owners, bankers, attorneys, doctors, pharmacists, firefighters, insurance agents, insurance adjusters, retirees, teachers, coaches, politicians, principals, managers, ministers, salesmen, law enforcement, government employees, carpenters, machinists, and others.  

Research From:

i William R. Denslow, Freemasonry and the American Indian, 1956

iiCharles E. Creager, John G. Hough, and James A. Lathim, History of Freemasonry in Oklahoma, Prepared for and copyrighted by M.E. Grand Chapter, Royal Arch Masons of Oklahoma, Muskogee, 1935, pp. 9-16.

iii Kenneth Peters and Liz McMahan, Wagoner People, December 2000, pp. 2, 3, 6, 9, 29.

iv Kenneth Peters & Liz McMahan, Wagoner People 2, December 2001, pp. 134-135.

vWagoner Masonic Lodge No. 98 Minutes

vi Robert G. Davis, 33º, "The Five Civilized Tribes And Freemasonry,"  A Shared Spirit:  Freemasonry and the Native American Tradition, A joint publication of the Masonic Service Association of North America and the Grand Lodge of Oklahoma, 2001, pp. 29-38.

 viiAlphonse Cerza, Trestleboard Tidbits, The Masonic Service Association, August 1982, pp. 37-38.

viii J. Fred Latham, The Story of Oklahoma Masonry:  The First Seventy-Five Years of Symbolic Masonry 1874 to 1949, Grand Lodge of Oklahoma, Guthrie, Oklahoma, 1978, pp. 5, 105, 139.

ix2001-2002 Oklahoma Almanac, 48^th ed., The Oklahoma Department Of Libraries, Oklahoma City, 2001, pp. 743-813, 827-843, 847-850.