Palestine Lodge No. 31, A. F. & A. M.

Palestine Lodge began as No. 22. On August 25, 1846, seven members of Lothrop Lodge No. 21 in Crockett petitioned the Grand Lodge of Texas and received a dispensation; the charter as No. 31 followed on May 1, 1848. The Masonic Temple's cornerstone was laid on August 29, 1878, but the lodge could not redeem its bonds on January 1, 1884, and had lost the building by June 25, 1885. Fire destroyed the lodge room on August 30, 1911, and William Irving saved the 1848 charter and five minute books.

What the plaque says

Palestine Lodge No. 31, A. F. & A. M. Established on November 21, 1846, the Palestine Masonic Lodge is one of the oldest organizations in Anderson County. Established by 22 charter members meeting under a dispensation from the Grand Lodge of Texas, the group was officially chartered as Lodge No. 31 in 1848. For the first two years meetings were held in members' homes until a lodge building was erected on the west side of the courthouse square in 1848. In 1850 the Masons built a 2-story structure to provide a school for boys in the community on the first floor and a meeting hall on the second level. Their commitment to education continued when the Masons constructed a brick schoolhouse for girls in 1852. The third Lodge building contained three floors: the first floor was split into three separate stores for rental to area merchants; the second floor was styled as the city's first opera house; and the third floor housed the Lodge meeting room. The Masons have met in many other sites over the years. Among its many prominent members was John H. Reagan, U.S. Congressman and first Texas Railroad Commissioner. The Masonic Lodge continues to serve the community as it has for more than 150 years. (1996)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Texas State Railroad Excursion Train — 4.1 mi
  A round trip of about 25 miles of track between the Palestine and Rusk depots through the Piney Woods, on a line built by prison labor and reopened as a tourist railroad in 1976.

More markers nearby

• Eilenberger's Bakery — steps away
• Site of Palestine Service Men's Club, World War II — steps away
• Anderson County in the Civil War — steps away
• Captain Steven L. Bennett — 0.2 mi