Masonry in Texas

In March 1835 the first Masonic meeting was held in Texas for the purpose of establishing a lodge in Texas.   Six Masons met under an oak tree near the town of Brazoria.   They applied to the Grand Lodge of Louisiana for a dispensation to form and open a Lodge.   A dispensation was issued and later a charter.   This first Texas lodge was called Holland Lodge No. 36.   It was named after then Grand Master of Masons in Louisiana, John Henry Holland.   Anson Jones was the first Worshipful Master of Holland Lodge No. 36, now Holland Lodge No. 1.   The charter was brought by John M. Allen and given to Anson Jones just prior to the battle of San Jacinto.

Two more Texas lodges were formed, also given dispensation and charter by the Grand Lodge of Louisiana.   They were:   Milam Lodge No. 40 in Nacogdoches, and McFarland Lodge No. 41 in San Augustine.   Both were formed in 1837.   These two lodges, together with Holland Lodge No. 36, sent representatives to meet in Houston and established the Grand Lodge of the Republic of Texas.   The convention elected Anson Jones the first Grand Master of Masons in Texas.   It should be noted that Anson Jones was the fourth and final President of the Republic of Texas, prior to becoming a state.

There are now over 122,000 Masons in Texas with a total of 914 lodges.   How we have grown in those 171 years!   We look forward optimistically to the future of Masonry in Texas and trust that its proud heritage will be built upon in the years to come in ways that will continue to serve and honor the great State of Texas of which we are a part.

There are nominal one-time fees collected for the conferring of the three degrees.   After that a Mason pays yearly dues to the lodge of which he has become a member.   No Mason is supposed to ask another person to become a Mason.   It is up to the individual man who has an interest in becoming a Mason to ask a Mason he knows for a petition to join the fraternity.