new lodge hall opens
A New Lodge Hall
Opens in the Old Federal City George Reader, Secretary Federal Lodge No. 1
T
he ties of Federal Lodge No.1 to the Federal City have been present for even longer than Washington DC has functioned as the nation’s capital. Two focal points of the city and of the nation, the White House and the Capitol Building, took form with the guidance and creative talents of the founders of Federal Lodge No.1, the architect and Freemason James Hoban, and the Irish Catholic and Scottish Presbyterian stonemasons who came to the then muddy little village by the Potomac to help build a new seat of government for the United States of America. After receiving its charter in September of 1793, meetings of Federal Lodge were held continuously at various locations in the city between the President’s House and the Capitol Building until 1984 when the Lodge relocated to the Georgetown Masonic Hall. With its relocation in January of 2009 from the Scottish Rite Center in Adams Morgan to a lodge hall in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Temple at 419 7th Street, NW, in the Penn Quarter, the brethren of the Lodge brought DC Freemasonry
back to its geographic origins in the old downtown of the nation’s capital. Led by the Most Worshipful Grand Master, Paul D. Gleason, the Grand Lodge joined Federal Lodge No. 1 on April 26, 2010 at a banquet and ceremony marking the official return of Freemasonry to downtown Washington, DC. At the invitation of Federal, the Most Worshipful Grand Master agreed to a formal ceremony to consecrate the new lodge hall coinciding with the Lodge’s previously scheduled Grand Visitation. As the evening opened, the Craft dined amid roses, candlelight, and chamber music in a setting reminiscent of late 19th or early 20th century Masonic social gatherings. Rather than being catered, the entire meal was organized and prepared by Federal Brethren. Following the banquet and the opening of the Lodge, the evening was a majestic synthesis of brotherhood, music, and ceremony.
The new lodge hall of Federal Lodge No. 1 includes a beautiful imported custom-made carpet depicting the Mosaic pavement.
The Voice of Freemasonry
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