San Saba Lodge No. 225, A. F. & A. M.

The college the lodge started outlived the lodge's first charter. San Saba Masonic College, established in 1860 and chartered on December 11, 1863, was given to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1879 and rechartered on May 25, 1885, as San Saba College. The church dropped it after 1886, but it reopened briefly in the 1890s as a nonsectarian college. The Grand Lodge of Texas had its own troubles: it traded its federal bonds for Confederate ones in 1861, ended the war penniless and canceled more than fifty charters for financial reasons between 1865 and 1880.

What the plaque says

San Saba Lodge No. 225, A. F. & A. M. The history of San Saba is closely tied with the story of Freemasonry in the area, as many of those who helped organize San Saba County were Masons. Local freemasons were already gathering as a group when the first county courthouse was erected in 1857 and the commissioners court allowed the Masons to meet in the new building. Twelve Master Masons petitioned the Grand Lodge of Texas for dispensation to form a lodge; their petition was granted in May 1858. A full charter for San Saba Lodge No. 225 was granted in June 1859. Members of the lodge were county officials, community leaders, frontier trailblazers, Texas Rangers, sheriffs and Confederate soldiers. The lodge first focused on the need for a public school in San Saba as members built a combination school and lodge hall. The Texas Legislature granted an official charter to the San Saba Masonic College in 1863. Freemasonry grew in popularity and in 1863 the Royal Arch Masons were granted a dispensation for a San Saba chapter, remaining active until 1869. Despite a membership of 84 in 1879, San Saba lodge suffered the same financial hardships as most of the Texas lodges during Reconstruction. San Saba Lodge No. 225 surrendered its charter in 1882, due in part to perceived association with the San Saba Mob, an outlaw vigilante group that terrorized the county during that era. A new lodge was organized in 1884, however, allowing Freemasonry to survive in San Saba. (1999)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Colorado Bend State Park — 17 mi
  Old ranch country on the Colorado above Lake Buchanan, where a spring-fed creek drops 70 feet over fern-covered travertine at Gorman Falls.

More markers nearby

• San Saba Lodge No. 612, A.F. & A.M. — steps away
• John H. "Shorty" Brown Cemetery — 0.3 mi
• San Saba County — 0.5 mi
• Alma Ward Hamrick — 0.7 mi