1859: STANBERY HEADS ORGANIZING BENEVOLENCE LODGE

STANBERY, GLASS, COWLES, SNOW, HICKING, MCGOWAN, GILBERT, HIEGE, MCMILLIN, PARKER, PARROTT, TUTTLE, ROSEMONT, WOOD, WARNER, TOBIN, MURDOCK, SHERWIN, KIRK, OGDEN, SMITH, RULE, KNUDSEN, DENISON, THOMPSON, HOXIE, NANCOLIS, WESTFALL, BPVARD

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 11/18/2014 at 05:39:17

The Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
Monday, June 01, 1953
Mason City Centennial Edition, Section 3

1859: STANBERY HEADS EARLY MASONS IN ORGANIZING BENEVOLENCE LODGE

[Section 3, Page 6] In the spring of 1859, when Mason City was but six years old and the entire county had a population of only 855, a group of Mason living in the community decided to organize a Masonic Lodge.

The story of the organization and growth of this lodge is ably presented in an 80 page book written by Remley J. Glass.

The group that organized the lodge included the men who laid out the town and who named it after their order. Leadership in the movement was taken by William C. Stanbery, grandfather of Ralph S. Stanbery, who was named worshipful master of the new Benevolence Lodge. Other officers were: J. C. Cowles, senior warden; Calvin Snow, treasurer; R. Hickling, secretary; L. D. McGowan, senior deacon; T. M. Gilbert, junior deacon; and E. Hiege, tyler.

The first meetings were held in the loft over the trading post of John J. McMillin, himself a member of the lodge. Other members included H. G. Parker, father of C. A. Parker, Thomas Parrott, M. Tuttle, M. B. Rosemont and P. R. Wood. Granting of the charter took place June 6, 1860.

Was First Master

Stanbery, the organizer and charter master of the lodge, was born in [Waynesburg] Ohio [June 29] 1824. When he came to Vinton, Iowa, in 1851 he already had a medical degree. In 1858 he and his family moved to Clear Lake and a year later he located in Mason City. In 1859 he was admitted to the practice of law by Judge Samuel Murdock.

He was a leading figure in the community until he died [April 21] 1874 at the age of 49 years. His son, John S. Stanbery, was for many years secretary of the lodge and his grandson, Ralph S. Stanbery, was master of the lodge 70 years after its establishment.

A number of members of the lodge served in the Civil War. On the night of Aug. 24, 1862, the lodge initiated L. R. Warner and C. W. Tobin who were entering the service immediately. When the news of the assassination of President Lincoln came the lodge met as a Lodge of Sorrow to adopt appropriate resolutions.

In Rented Halls

In the years following the Civil War the lodge met in rented halls in the old Howe building on the present site of Younkers and Lloyd and Tuttle hall and Hoxie building on the Montgomery Ward building site.

Benevolence Lodge and other Masonic bodies organized a Masonic Building Company in 1894 with Judge J. C. Sherwin as president; I. R. Kirk, vice president; Howard Ogden, secretary; and Richard Smith, treasurer, who with J. C. Knudsen, James Rule, H. P. Kirk, O. T. Denison and G. S. Thompson constituted the board of directors.

The Masonic Building Company erected the present temple on 2nd and South Federal on property acquired from Ann Maria Hoxie and husband and John Nancolis for $3,500. On Feb. 26, 1895, the dedication of the temple was conducted by the Grand Lodge of Iowa. The building was erected a at cost of $9,500.

The only meeting of the Grand Lodge of Iowa held in Mason City was in June, 1899, with approximately 1,000 officers and delegates present.

Westfall Grand Master

During both the World Wars the lodge experienced a large influx of new members. Emergent communications were held to confer degrees upon men before they left for the service. Dues of men in the service were remitted.

Among members of the lodge who became prominent in the grand lodge is W. A. Westfall, who was elected grand master in 1919. At a meeting of the lodge in 1952 he received his 50 year certificate in recognition of his years in service.

In 1930 Ralph S. Stanbery, grandson of the original master of the lodge, was installed as master of Benevolence. At that time the lodge had completed 70 years of Masonic service. It marked the climax of three generations of Stanberys in the lodge.

When the lodge celebrates its 100th anniversary in 1959, it is likely to have as worshipful master a fourth generation of the Stanbery family, Gilbert K. Bovard. Bovard was installed as junior steward in January. It takes seven years to work up to worshipful master.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker

Cerro Gordo Documents maintained by Lynn Diemer-Mathews.
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