Meetings:
1st & 3rd Tuesdays of the month at 7:30 PM
Phone: 937-592-5626

600 North Main, Bellefontaine, Ohio 43311

Bellefontaine Lodge 209 History

"Masonry Builds Temples in the Hearts of Men - A Warm Welcome Awaits You at Your Masonic Temple"

Light in Masonry first came to Bellefontaine in the form of an organized lodge of Free and Accepted Masons in October 1850, when the requisite number of Masons met under a dispensation from the Grand Lodge empowering them to work. They were recommended by Mad River Lodge No. 171 of West Liberty and from the Quincy-DeGraff area, for Kreider Lodge No. 197 had just been chartered at Quincy on October 17, 1850. They had no doubt worked for a year under dispensation. Thus, Bellefontaine became the third lodge in Logan County. The first meeting was held on October 24, 1850 with the following officers being elected:

It was 1850 when Free Masonry first came to Bellefontaine. One might raise the question - Why so late? the population according to the Federal Census of that year was 1222. It was a thriving town yet no Masonic Lodge prior to this time. The answer to the question naturally is not to be found in the annuals of the local Lodge, but we find a hint in the records of a neighboring lodge and rely upon history to explain what happened.

Harmony Lodge No. 8 in Urbana is the oldest lodge in west-central Ohio. Any new lodges to be formed in their territory had to receive their recommendation. The did recommend charters for several lodges and had a request from Bellefontaine for such action on November 25, 1825 but upon investigation they found that one of the members proposed was a Fellow Craft, but not a Master Mason. The request, therefore, had to be denied. At the time there was no chartered lodge in northwestern Ohio. The nearest neighbors on the north would have been Maumee and Norwalk.

The denial of the sponsorship by Harmony Lodge presumably deferred the matter of applying to the Grand Lodge for a dispensation for another year. Unfortunately, within the next few month the Morgan affair broke in Batavia, New York. The storm of suspicion, hatred and abuse that followed spread rapidly to neighboring states and culminated in the formation of the Anti-Masonic political party. The party soon disappeared but the antagonism continued for several decades. Present day Masons may not be familiar with the details of the sorid story, but they hardly belong in the history of the lodge that was as yet unfounded. The only purpose of mentioning it here is to point up the fact that the it was responsible for a delay of 25 years in the formation of active lodges in the area. It also serves to explain an outburst that occurred twenty years after the lodge was founded.

"In youth... we ought industriously to occupy our minds in the attainment of useful knowledge." - Unknown

The coming of the Civil War when the Lodge was little more than ten years old created a trying period although the records do not reveal that the impact was as serious as one might expect. There is some mention of members who were in service and one member, J. Barnett of the Ohio 12th regiment, O.V.I., is mentioned as having died at Shelbyville, Tennessee in 1863. The Lodge voted to furnish each man in service a diploma without charge. This was to assist them in proving themselves if they wished to attend military lodges or regularly established lodges in places near where they were on duty.

On June 18, 1861, the Lodge voted to join with the Council and Chapter in purchasing a sword to be presented to Cyrus W. Fisher, who was currently secretary of the Lodge and who was leaving for the Army. His rank upon leaving is not known, but in September 1863 in some recorded correspondence he was addressed as "Colonel Fisher".

Shortly after the close of the Civil War, civic pride in the county found expressions in the planning and erection of a fine new court house at a cost of $105,000. When construction was under way, plans were made for the laying of the corner-stone. The date was set for September 9, 1870, and the County Commissioners asked the Bellefontaine Lodge to take charge of the ceremonies. This was not at all unusual, as lodges were frequently asked to perform that service for public buildings, churches and the like.