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Our goal is to bring you... |
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Ascend the stairs! We’ll give you the first three. |
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In the fall of 1920, the idea of starting a Masonic Lodge in Argo and Summit was first conceived by Bro. Wilbur Woodard, who was able to interest enough brother Masons residing in Summit to occupy the various chairs, and he conducted a little school of instruction in the rear room of the village drug store. Meetings of this kind were held until the spring of 1921. The enthusiasm of some of these pioneers subsided during the winter, but Bro. Woodard persisted in his efforts and after a while conducted the meeting in the basement of his home. The seed was thus sown for future developments. The various brother Masons in the two communities had endeavored to secure some organization. A meeting was called and notices sent to all the Master Masons in Argo and Summit for the purpose of organizing a Masonic Club as the forerunner of a regularly constituted lodge. The first meeting was called and held at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Argo on October 10, 1923, there being forty-four Master Masons present. Bro. Walter W. H. Schwedler was elected chairman, and Bro. Chas. L. Geneson was elected secretary. The organization was called the Acacia Club. Regular meetings were held thereafter in the basement of the Congregational Church of Argo. The club continued to hold these meetings, which were social in their nature. Various brothers started to perfect themselves in the work with a view to holding chairs in the contemplated lodge. In the meantime, the condition of Bro. Woodward’s health compelled him to withdraw from actual participation in the work. The perseverance and splendid application of the “I WILL” spirit manifested by a few brothers to learn and perfect themselves in the preparatory work finally resulted in the belief that they were capable of forming a lodge, and then proceeded to redouble their efforts with the aid of R.W. Bro. Harry J. Lord, D.G.M., and Bro. J. Paul Bishop was elected president of the Club, the organization having in mind making him their first Master. A petition for dispensation, recommended by LaGrange Lodge, No. 770, Riverside Lodge, No. 862 and Berwyn Lodge, No. 839 was filed with the Grand Lodge, and the new Argo-Summit Lodge was instituted on July 14, 1925. The first meeting was held in the new lodge hall on Archer Avenue in Argo on August 4, 1925. The first candidate was raised to the Third degree on August 25, 1925, and the lodge was constituted on November 16, 1925, as Argo-Summit Lodge, No. 1133. |
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