cr ft m sonry - Onondaga and Oswego Masonic District Historical ...

A dispensation was granted to the petitioners and they held their first meeting on 4 Apr 1860, as Syracuse Lodge, U.D. in the rooms
at 63 (now 317) South Salina Street, which they leased from Central City Lodge. They were subsequently granted a charter bearing
the number 501 on 5 Jul 1860.
The first candidate for Initiation on 11 Apr 1860 was E. F. Rice, who was Passed 25 Apr and Raised on 25 Apr 1860.
The first brother to join the Lodge by affiliation was Bro. H. H. Chase, on 12 Jul 1860.
The cost at that time for all three degrees was $20 (about $500 in 2006 dollars); $5 ($125 today) on presenting the petition and the
balance of $15 before receiving the Entered Apprentice Degree. Affiliation was $3 ($75 today); the annual dues were $2 ($50
today).
The initial expenses of organizing Syracuse 501, including the indebtedness of No. 102, was $107.30 ($2683 today); and by the
year 1882 forty-two of the members of Syracuse Lodge No. 102 had affiliated with the new Syracuse Lodge No. 501. Many
prominent citizens became members of Syracuse Lodge, both by initiation and affiliation, among the latter being M.’.W.’. Finley M.
King, the Grand Master, a member of Port Byron Lodge No. 130 and publisher and editor of the “Masonic Union*,” who affiliated
with Syracuse Lodge on 16 Oct 1861 and remained a member until his death on 3 Feb 1868.
[* The last number of the “Masonic Union” was June 1854, and in September of the same year it reappeared in connection with the
Masonic Register, published by J.F. Adams at 343 Broadway, New York City, the combined monthly being called the Masonic
Register and Union.]
http://home.earthlink.net/~dahoude/from_the_archives.htm
WAR MEETING YESTERDAY. The meeting yesterday was largely attended in Hanover square. Finlay M. King, Massachusetts
Dunbar, and Hon. Thos. G. Alvord, addressed the meeting. Dunbar sang a sort of negro medley, with but poor success. Dunbar
should drop the darkey, and confine himself to patriotism. It is a great pity to see him waste his pantomimic efforts on the colored
gammon. If he desires to enter the ranks of a minstrel troupe, room must be made for him and a few others who train with him.
(Syracuse Daily Courier and Union 27 Aug 1862)
The early members of the lodge made every known effort to have the old number of 102 restored, but this was denied by Grand
Lodge. It was not until 1910 that the members were able to obtain possession of the charter of the late Syracuse Lodge No. 102 as
a relic. The present whereabouts of this charter is unknown, but may possibly be in the Greenland Collection at the Utica Branch of
the Grand Lodge Library.
5 Mar 1862 The Master of Syracuse Lodge received a petition form eleven members requesting to right to form a lodge at
Liverpool, New York. Their request was honored, and as a result, Liverpool Lodge No 525 was chartered on 3 Jun 1863.
< The first Bastable Block aka Shakespeare Hall ca 1870-80; destroyed by
fire ca 1893. Among its other tenants was the Second National Bank,
established in 1862 by Benjamin Ward Baum, owner of the Carbon Oil
Company. Baum was a successful businessman, but is mainly remembered
today as the father of L. Frank Baum, author of the Wizard of Oz.
Summer 1867: The Lodge changed its meeting place to rooms in the
Bastable Block where the State Tower Building is now located. These rooms
were elaborately fitted and equipped, the cost of which was largely offset by
individual subscriptions of the members in the amounts of $3 to $25, for a
total of $1,129.00.
The Lodge continued to prosper, and its 1873 its membership had increased
until these rooms were inadequate. Larger rooms were secured on the
fourth floor of the Whitlock Block at 217 South Clinton Street. At that time
the Lodge met on Wednesday evenings, and the weary journey of climbing three long, narrow flights of stairs was not considered a
hardship.
There were 640 Masons in the Pioneer Years of Syracuse Lodge; 30 charter members, 501 initiated and 108 affiliated.
Transitional Period: 1886-1930
The financial panic of 1873, a part of the secondary depression which followed the Civil War, hit the fraternal world hard. There was
only a 74% net increase in the membership of the Lodge between 1873-1888, but the spotlight of Masonry was soon to shine upon
the Syracuse Lodge again and a result of the devotion to the craft by R.’.W.’. Herbert William Greenland.
Past Masters
Joy, Lewis Everett 1860-61 Miller, Frank T. 1908-09 Jowett, Arthur 1960
Chase, Horace Hills 1862 Stone, Horace G. 1910-11 Holland, Richard W. 1961
Babcock, Ira 1863 Friedrich, Sebert T. 1912-13 Chacona, Pano S. 1962
Goff, Charles Sterling 1864-65 Dewald, Charles B. 1914-15 Larkins, Franklin D. 1963
Haywood, Waterman Henry 1866 Hancock, George K. 1916-17 Middleton, Lloyd A. 1964
Barnes, John William 1867-68 Shaw, C. Arthur 1920-21 Ryan, C. Wilson 1965
Brodhead, Fred Augustus 1869-70 Ireland, Lewis E. 1924-25 Sherman, Charles N. 1966
Blodgett, Rufus Barton 1871-72 Babcock, Joseph E. 1926-27 Cameron, Chandler J. 1967
Seeley, Obadiah 1873-74 Friedrich, Sebert H. 1930-31 Ace, Carle H., Jr. 1968
Phelps, William H. 1875-76 Thomasmeyer, Raymond H. 1934-35 DeHaven, William C. 1969
Barber, Theo. Milton 1877 Miller, O. Lacy 1938-39 Kanton, Peter J.* 1970
36