Grand Lodge of Texas, A.F. & A.M.

The plaque never says why the Grand Lodge ended up in Waco. According to a local television history, leaders wanted a seat in the middle of the state, and Dallas and Houston both bid for it. The Grand Lodge sold its Houston property in February 1903. Waco Lodge No. 92 had first met on January 23, 1852. Today the building at 715 Columbus holds a library of Masonic and Texas history and a museum whose objects include Sam Houston's gavel. Sources differ on the year of the move: the plaque says 1902, and the station says 1903.

What the plaque says

Grand Lodge of Texas, A.F. & A.M. The first attempt to establish freemasonry in Texas occurred in 1828 when Stephen F. Austin and a group of Masons petitioned the Mexican National Grand Lodge for a Lodge Charter. Due to the political upheaval of the time, nothing became of the petition. Five Master Masons met in Brazoria in March 1835 and sent a petition to Grand Master John H. Holland of Lousiana asking for a charter to form a lodge in Texas. The charter was delivered to Anson Jones, who carried it during the Battle of San Jacinto. Holland Lodge was located in Houston and by 1837 was joined by Milam Lodge in Nacogdoches and McFarland Lodge in San Augustine. On December 20, 1837, the three lodges met in convention and created the Grand Lodge of the Republic of Texas. Sam Houston presided at the convention, and Anson Jones was elected First Grand Master. The Grand Lodge met in various locations before permanently locating in Waco in 1902. Masons were at the forefront of Texas history. Twenty-two of the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence were Masons. Members of the organization defended the Alamo and fought at the Battle of San Jacinto. All of the presidents and vice presidents of the Republic of Texas were Masons. (1987)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Dr Pepper Museum — 0.4 mi
  The 1906 bottling plant of the Artesian Manufacturing and Bottling Company, built where Dr Pepper outgrew a Waco drugstore soda fountain, now the Dr Pepper Museum.
• Waco Suspension Bridge — 0.6 mi
  A Brazos crossing opened in January 1870 as the longest single-span suspension bridge west of the Mississippi, tolled until 1889, closed to vehicles in 1971 and now walked.
• Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum — 1.0 mi
  The official state repository of Texas Ranger memorabilia, opened in 1968 in Fort Fisher Park on the Brazos, named for a Ranger post of 1837 whose site no one has located.
• Armstrong Browning Library — 1.3 mi
  A three-story Italian Renaissance library on the Baylor campus built to hold A. J. Armstrong's Browning collection, dedicated in December 1951 and now, by its own account, the world's largest of Browning material.

More markers nearby

• Sheppard "Shep" Mullens — steps away
• Site of Waco Indian Village — steps away
• The Courthouses of McLennan County — steps away
• The Waco Tornado — 0.3 mi