Historical Information
Our lodge began operation under dispensation from the Stoney Creek Lodge on August 9th 1849. The first meeting was on Thursday August 30, 1849. Our first Worshipful Master UD was Asahel Bailey who was born in 1789 in Haddam, Connecticut. A copy of our first minutes charred from one of the first that have occurred to our Lodge is noted on the revers of this brief history.
Masonic Temple dedications usually are few and far between, but Romeo Masons have experienced four such occasions, not all of their own choice however, in the years gone past.
Meetings were first held in various locations and then from 1869 to 1905 in the same building where the Lodge is now located only in the room which at the time was is now our Ballroom on the third floor.
At this time larger quarters were deemed necessary and the second floor of the Parker Building, new at the time, was selected and dedicated as such. Seventeen years later the building we now occupy, known as the Gray Opera House, was purchased for the sum of $8,000, remodeled and rededicated to Masonry in January 1923. On November 13, 1940, just before high twelve, a disastrous fire of unknown origin practically gutted our beautiful Temple, laid waste and destroyed many of our records as well as most of our equipment.
This was a sad blow and a lot of inconvenience followed, but with the permission of Grand Lodge and the assistance of neighboring Lodges Davis, Richmond, Memphis, Almont, and Armada, our assemblies and degree work proceeded nearly on schedule.
During this time, many determined Masonic brothers, to whom we owe much credit, made use of the Masonic tools to bring the Temple back from the ashes. It was again dedicated in April of 1941.
And now Brethren, empires may you rise and fall, nations may advance or suffer decay, races may come and go, but the power, sentiment and spirit of our Fraternity must go on forever. Let us guard it well.