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History
By the early years of the last century,
In 1810 they applied to the Grand Lodge of Masons
for permission to organize into a regularly chartered Lodge.
In November of 1810 they offered a petition through Young
Eagle #49, which was located somewhere south of
On the same day, Young Eagle Lodge #49, which
sponsored the organization of Perseverance Lodge, surrendered its
charter.
The Lodge entered into a lease agreement for the
second floor of a small frame building at the northeast corner of
Fourth and Adams Streets, which was the Town Hall.
The lease was for twenty years, but the Lodge continued to
use this hall until 1862.
In 1819 antimasonic influence became evident in
the community as well as in the Lodge and the growth of the Lodge
was greatly retarded. So
bad was the sentiment that it almost broke up the Lodge.
The membership had dropped from forty five to thirty three.
One brother made a motion before the Lodge to surrender the
charter. The motion was
beaten by only one vote.
In 1829 a public mass meeting was held, at which time the following
resolution was adopted:
“Resolve: That we will not support any person for
any office in Town, County, or State election, or hear any preacher
of the gospel, who is a member of the Masonic Fraternity.
By 1861, when the War between the States broke
out, many of the young Masons entered the service and greatly
retarded the growth and activities of the Lodge.
The Lodge never got back to its usual working
condition. Many of its
members had either been killed or died in service.
Lethargy began to prevail among the Masons who were left.
By the latter 1870’s the Lodge was beginning to show some
signs of interest and growth, but on the fateful night of January
31, 1871, fire completely destroyed the business section on both
sides of Water Street, destroying the Lodge Hall the second time.
Again, the charter was saved.
It was thought for many years that the jewels and seal were
destroyed together with all records of the Lodge, however both
jewels and seal made their appearance in the lodge many years later,
but the bylaws and records were lost in the fire.
The few Masons that were left here saw little hope
for the continuation of the Lodge after the destruction by the fire.
The matter was discussed, and on November 12, 1881 the
charter was surrendered to the Grand Lodge.
After the surrender, many Masons began to realize what they
had done and sent a delegation before the Grand Lodge to ask that
the charter be restored.
The Grand Lodge refused the request and there was no Masonic Lodge
in
The information for this presentation was taken
from a writing by John W. Darden, P.M. and P.D.D.G.M.
Written in 1949, Bro. Darden had two goals.
(1) to give the membership of Perseverance 59 a historical
past of the rough road the Lodge has travelled for nearly a century
and a half, and, (2) to raise awareness to the need of
a temple of it’s own for the Lodge, and helping to obtain
that temple.
At the writing of Bro.
Dardens booklet in 1949, Perseverance Lodge had a membership of 185
members and was one of the most active Lodges in