A HISTORY OF OUR GRAND LINE:

Sometimes we forget that every member of a Masonic lodge is a member of the Grand Lodge of its jurisdiction, so when we say “The Grand Lodge of Michigan,” we are technically referring to every single Michigan Freemason who is a member within that grand jurisdiction. However, the more common understanding of what we mean when we say “Grand Lodge” usually refers to the jurisdiction’s leadership and administrative structure – those individuals and entities that work diligently throughout the year to make sure things are taken care of and run as smoothly as possible between the once-a-year meetings we call the Grand Lodge Annual Communication. Though there are many people who work behind the scenes to make this happen, the officers of a grand lodge are often the most visible, and perhaps the group most people are referring to when they think of the Grand Lodge. These officers are known as the Grand Line and serve in their designated positions with specific duties and responsibilities just like the officers of a local lodge, but at the jurisdictional level.

By Dirk Hughes Museum and Library Director

It can be argued that Freemasonry is like a leadership school, and that the officer chairs within a lodge are opportunities to practice the skills it teaches in a safe and supportive environment. And just like any school, the students of leadership need to study the material in a sequence of complexity, starting with the introduction and moving on to more advanced levels of understanding and capabilities. We often see this as lodge Brothers starting their experience as a lodge officer in a position, though important, that may hold less responsibility or ritual expertise to assist the lodge in its functions. Then they move on to a position of more responsibility and ritualistic proficiency. And so on, until they have acquired the needed skills and practice to run a lodge successfully as Worshipful Master. Once the Worshipful Master has served his term, he uses what he has learned to help the next Brother move up to the East and have his own opportunity to run the lodge. This is often called “running the line.” It is an intentional sequence of lodge management designed to improve leadership.

If we accept that Masonic teachings are mechanisms for character-building, self-improvement, and honing our leadership skills, we can appreciate how developing these at the local level translates to the continuation and application of them at the jurisdictional level as a member of the Grand Line. Though Grand Lodge officers have had plenty of practice and evidence of success before being elected to the Grand Line, there is still the tradition of “running the line” for those grand chairs as well, not necessarily to ensure they have the capable skills of jurisdictional leadership, but perhaps more importantly, to promote new ideas and to create a more cohesive fraternal momentum and organizational confidence.

But “running the line” hasn’t always been the practice of local lodges nor the Grand Lodge. Nor is it the practice of every modern lodge that might be restricted by the limitations of its active membership. Regardless of the practice, fraternal dynamics and community impact are heavily influenced by leadership. Though every member has the right to voice his opinions and ideas, it is the leadership that is charged with considering those opinions and ideas to make the best decisions possible for the Craft. This is true at the local lodge level and the Grand Lodge level.

Early in our Grand Lodge history, we see a number of men serving multiple terms as Grand Master or being elected as Grand Master after an absence from the Grand Line. In fact, during the first fifty years of the Grand Lodge of Michigan in the 1800s, almost half of our Grand Masters served multiple terms in the Grand East with MWB John Mullet (1843, 1844, 1845), MWB Henry T Backus (1851, 1852, 1853), and MWB Salathiel Coffinbury (1866, 1867, 1868) each serving three consecutive terms as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Michigan.

MWB Horace Roberts is an interesting example as well. Establishing his leadership skills early in his life during the 1847 Mexican War at the age of nineteen, he was raised a Master Mason at Lansing #33 in 1849 while serving as a private secretary to Michigan’s Governor before moving to Detroit and transferring his membership to Union of S.O. #3 in 1852. There he took the reins of that lodge by serving six consecutive terms as Worshipful Master, during which time he also served in the Grand Line as Senior Grand Deacon in 1854, Senior Grand Warden in 1855, and Deputy Grand Master in 1856. He would spend five years away from the Grand Line before returning to serve as Michigan’s youngest Grand Master in 1861 at the age of 33. Unfortunately, he had to spend the later part of his Grand Master term serving in the military and leading Union troops during the Civil War until he was killed at the Second Battle of Bull Run in 1862.

MWB Abraham T. Metcalf would be the last of our Grand Masters to serve more than one term when he held that position in 1869 and 1870. The leadership of Grand Lodge has basically been “running the line” ever since, entering the line at an introductory position and progressing onward each term until they take on that pinnacle role of Grand Master for a single term.

There may be a number of different reasons we see these trends of our leadership transform from the 1800s to today. Technological advancement and availability of Masonic resources may have something to do with it, as well as fraternal growth, need, and expectations. When the Grand Lodge of Michigan was formed in 1826 there were four lodges. By 1871, less than fifty years later and the year Grand Master Metcalf finished his second term, there were almost three hundred lodges in the jurisdiction. Remember, this incredible growth was occurring at a time long before automobiles or common access to railways, so communication and travel were highly restricted. Not only was our Masonic leadership more stationary, but as expected, the process of that leadership was at a much slower pace.

Today, the Grand Master and his officers spend an astounding amount of time and energy visiting lodges, participating in events, and coordinating decision-making for the benefit of the jurisdiction. This would have been impossible for our leadership of the 1800s before modern technology and development would allow it happening. And unlike our leaders of the past who had the luxury of taking a breather in between postal delivery of paper correspondences, our modern Grand Line is accessible 24/7 via text and email. Frankly, our world has gotten much busier. The reason we saw brothers serving multiple terms as Grand Master or floating in and out of the Grand Line in the past is because even though the positions were as important, there is no way they could have been as busy as the Grand Line positions in these modern times.

Fundamentally, the Grand Line’s responsibility is the same as it has always been – to lead the Craft in its jurisdiction. However, in a practical sense, the modern Grand Line must lead while also contending with accelerated rates of change, communication, and problems that their Masonic forbearers would have never encountered.

So, make sure you thank them for that next time you see them.