Beaver Lodge 234
Thornbury, ON
HISTORY
In 1834, the first settlers arrived in the beautiful Beaver Valley. They formed the towns of Thornbury in 1852 and Clarksburg in 1860.
In the 1860s both Thornbury and Clarksburg were becoming fairly well established and near the end of the 1860s a number of progressive men turned their thoughts to Fraternal societies as there were a few Masons in Thornbury, Clarksburg, Heathcote and the nearby countryside.
They came together, and on July 18th, 1870 a charter or warrant was granted by the Grand Lodge of Canada in the Province of Ontario to institute a Masonic Lodge in Clarksburg named Beaver Lodge No. 234 A.F and A.M. G.R.C., which was done on August 18th, 1870 by Most Worshipful Brother J.F. Kerr.
The charter members were Alexander Mitchell, George Reekie Sr., W.D. Law, Thomas Fields, Joseph Rorke, Thomas Andrews, Thomas McCarroll, J.D. Casey and P.F. Leroy.
Alexander Mitchell was the only Installed Master among the Charter Members, so he, having been the Master of Pythagoras Lodge No. 137 in neighbouring Meaford, was elected the first Master of Beaver Lodge occupying the office until the end of 1872.
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In 1876, a building was purchased in Clarksburg where the Lodge meetings were held until 1882 when the building was destroyed by a fire. $445.00 was received from the insurance company.
In 1885 the Lodge moved into the Hartman block in Clarksburg where meetings were held for 46 years until once again, the building was destroyed by fire on September 30, 1931.
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In 1932 Beaver Lodge petitioned Grand Lodge for permission to relocate to Thornbury and bought the building which we currently occupy on Bruce Street.
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In December 1938, the new rooms and furnishings were damaged by fire, smoke and water from a fire in the shop below the Lodge room. The Oddfellows offered the use of their Lodge room as they had in the Clarksburg fire, until the Beaver Lodge building was repaired.
Since the inauguration of Beaver Lodge over 150 years ago, there has been a fraternal visiting spirit between Pythagoras Lodge in Meaford. Although Thornbury and Meaford are only 12 kilometers apart, visiting the Meaford brethren was not as simple as a quick drive along Highway 26 as it is today.
“In the early days and up to the invention of the automobile, travelling accommodations were not as favourable as they are now (1945). Occasionally the late R.W. Bro. Charles Pye would let us in on some of those visiting exploits, of his and others going on foot or horseback, usually one horse and taking turns at having a ride and sometimes two on the horses’ back. The horse must have been quite docile and good-natured, more so than the one John Gilpen rode.” (Extract from the history of Beaver Lodge)
In 1905 or 1906, brethren from Beaver Lodge attended Pythagoras Lodge to confer a 3rd degree. They left Thornbury at 7:00 p.m., took the train to Meaford, attended Lodge and got to bed in a Meaford Hotel at 2:00 a.m. paying $0.40 for a room until 6:00 a.m. They woke and caught the 6:40 a.m. train to be home in time for breakfast.
We warmly welcome visiting brethren regardless of their preferred manner of transportation, and hope you will take the opportunity to visit our historic Lodge as we begin our next 150 years.
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Freemasonry is the oldest and largest fraternal organization in the world. Its members share a common goal of helping each other become better men. Its body of knowledge and system of ethics is based on the belief that each man has a responsibility to improve himself while being devoted to his family, faith, country, and fraternity.
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In 2017 Ontario’s Freemasons joined with those around the world to celebrate the formation of the first organized masonic government at the Goose and Gridiron Tavern in St. Paul’s Churchyard, in London.
In the course of three hundred years Freemasonry would spread around the globe. Today Freemasonry varies across the continents as it adjusts itself to changing social conditions, while observing its fundamental principles of brotherly love, relief and truth. It continues to be, as originally conceived, a brotherhood of man under a fatherhood of God requiring a belief in a supreme being. Our focus is “to help good men make themselves better.”
Many Canadians involved in the development of government and industry in Canada, the formulation of our medical, educational and military systems, and so on, were Freemasons. But we never remember them clearly. The fraternity, or craft (interchangeable words referring to Freemasonry as an institution) does not advertise itself, nor the extent of its support to members and to those outside the membership who are in need of support. This means that while we remember Sir John A. Macdonald as our first Prime Minister few know of his masonic connections and involvement, and fewer still remember him as being Prime Minister over a country of only four confederated Provinces in 1867: Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
Our Grand Master, Most Worshipful Brother Jamie R. Ireland, welcomes this opportunity to introduce a series of articles to outline the various dimensions of Freemasonry and to explore the breadth and depth of the involvement of Freemasons in the formation and growth of Ontario and Canada.In this way we pay our respects to those men who took the unprecedented step on June 24, 1717, to organize a system of masonic government and to those who have followed them. We strive to improve ourselves and those around us we honour the memory of our founders.