Our History

Kensington Lodge No. 211

Constituded: 1827, Merged: 2000

On November 8^th, 1826 a petition for the warranting of a new Masonic Lodge in the Kensington section of the city was received and read before a special extra communication of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania along with two other Masonic Lodges that were also intending to be built at that time: Hand in Hand Lodge and Equality Lodge. The primary recommender for the lodge to be built in Kensington was Hiram Lodge No. 81 of Germantown.

After very little debate, the decision was tabled for further discussion until a later date (three months later) on account of the general opinion of the membership that there were already far too many other lodges already operating within the city’s limits. At 25 total Masonic Lodges, it was considered that any more would cause a deficiency in the overall numerical strength of each individual lodge. Some members even had concerns that due to the lack of sufficiently sized housing, that meetings would be held in a tavern or inn instead, which lended itself to questionable moral practices and the potential abuses of overcharging for membership.  

Because there hadn’t been an official English speaking lodge warranted in the city since at least 1822, (Lodges No. 186 and No. 187), and because the circumstances surrounding Kensington’s petition were special, it was advised by the Committee who had first reviewed the petition to decide on the following.

First, the area assigned for the lodge could not be considered within city limits. It was actually 3 miles away from the new Masonic Hall then currently residing on Chestnut Street, and was in a neighborhood full of good men who intended to join a Masonic lodge but who were not currently members of one.

Second, Kensington was a populous district that was too far away from the current location of the Masonic Hall for members to conveniently participate in the duties or experience the same benefits of lodges holding meetings there. This distance also insured that any newly created Masons wouldn’t take away from the memberships or numerical strength of the lodges within the city.

Thirdly, that in order to assuage the concerns by anyone in the Grand Lodge that a Kensington lodge would be held in a tavern or inn and making Masons for an inconsiderable sum, the applicants assured the Committee that meetings would be held in a private residence made suitable for such activities and that the fee would be only 30 dollars.

Modern estimated location of original Meeting Hall for Kensington Lodge No. 211.

Thanks to the effort of the applicants in arguing their position and the fairness of the committee the petition was eventually granted and Kensington Lodge No. 211 was officially constituted on April 30^th, 1827 and held its first official stated meeting on May 2^nd, 1827 at a private home located at the corner of Allen and Marlborough streets.

It is also interesting to note that the other two lodges whose petitions were being decided on at the same time, Hand in Hand Lodge and Equality Lodge, were both denied a warrant on account of the findings of the investigating committee. The main argument against both petitions was that many of the applicants were Masons who were already members of other lodges that existed in Philadelphia. The committee also decided that even if those Masons found themselves at odds with their current lodge, either because of practices, affiliations or other reasons that would cause them to desire to end their association with it, there were 24 other lodges who would welcome them with open arms and thus not a good enough reason to start a completely new lodge.

Kensington Lodge No. 211 would move around quite a bit after their first few years meeting at the residence at Marlborough and Allen streets. In 1833 the lodge would hold meetings at Hope Chapel on Hope Street; in 1834 they would move to Commissioner’s Hall on Frankford where they would remain until 1850 then make a brief stay in a building on the corner of Second and Canal street before returning to Commissioner’s Hall in 1855. As the membership grew it soon became apparent that a larger facility was going to be needed so a building was purchased on Richmond for the sum of $3,750 and expanded for an additional $3,800 to make it fit for Masonic purposes and in April of 1860 , the lodge held its first stated meeting at Richmond Street Hall before finally being renamed and formerly designated as Kensington Masonic Temple by the Right Worshipful Grand Master of Pennsylvania in October of that same year.

Kensington Lodge No. 211 would continue to meet at the Masonic Temple on Richmond for the next eighty one years until eventually moving to the Frankford Masonic Hall on Womrath during the occasion of their 125th anniversary, and then finally residing at the Tacony Temple on Magee Avenue until the time of their merger with Peter A. B. Widener Lodge No. 671 and Apollo Lodge No. 386 in December of 2000.

In her 173 years of providing Masonic Light and fellowship to their members, Kensington Lodge No. 211 was proud to have been the Mother Lodge of several other prominent lodges in the state. Richmond Lodge No. 230 formed in 1848; Shekinah Lodge No. 246 formed in 1850; St. Paul’s Lodge No. 481 formed in 1870; Althestan Lodge No. 482 formed in 1870; William C. Hamilton Lodge No. 500 formed in 1871; Gothic Lodge No. 519 formed in 1873; and Tacony Lodge No. 600 form in 1893. It was also one of her members, Bro. Wayne Thompson, PM who would be asked to establish and organize the Masonic Blood and Organ Club for the Grand Lodge in 1967 which has continued to service and provide assistance to brothers and their families in need for the last 54 years.

Apollo Lodge No. 386

Constituded: 1867, Merged: 1986

Apollo Lodge No. 386, owes its existence to the fraternal feelings of brotherly love and fellowship that existed between members of Apollo Lodge No. 296 I.O.O.F. (International Order of Odd Fellows). Many of the members of that organization where also already Masons of other lodges meeting around the state, so it seemed the next logical step to petition the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania for a warrant to constitute a new Masonic Lodge of their own. The 12 men who signed that original petition were made up of several prominent Masonic Lodges including Eastern Star Lodge No. 186, Union Lodge No. 121, Melita Lodge No. 295, Washington Lodge No. 59, and finally Wilkes-Barre Lodge No. 61.

On a sunny day on March 20^th, 1867 at a meeting of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, then meeting at the second Masonic Hall to be located on Chestnut (the first one burned down in a fire in 1819), the petition to be constituted was approved and Apollo Lodge No. 386 held its first stated meeting later that evening. During the remainder of that year, in addition to the 12 charter members, five Master Masons were admitted to membership, ninety two candidates were entered, eighty three were passed to become Fellowcrafts, and seventy seven were raised to the sublime degree of a Master Mason, which brought the membership up to 109 at the close of December in 1867. To achieve this, thirty five stated and special meetings were held over the course of nine months.  

On St. John’s Day (June 24^th, 1868) the laying of the cornerstone of the New Masonic Temple being built on Broad and Filbert street (now JFK) was the occasion of one of the largest public demonstrations of the fraternity and Apollo Lodge No. 386 made sure to be properly represented for its first appearance in public. After the Masonic Temple was finally completed and dedicated on September 26^th, 1875, the Lodge would begin to have its meetings in Egyptian Hall, but after much debate and displeasure from the members, the motion was presented and approved to move the meetings to Norman Hall instead. The Lodge would continue to hold its meetings in Norman Hall until the merger with Kensington Lodge No. 211 and Peter AB Widener No. 671 over a century later.

Some notable traditions that are still carried on to this day are an annual Past Master’s Night which was first held in 1935 and the presentation of a Masonic Bible to each newly raised Master Mason since 1939. Also interesting are some of the Lodge’s statistical legacy. The most degrees conferred in one year was 279 in 1920; the largest number of members at one time was 731 in 1925 and 1926; the most members suspended was 24 during 1935; the most deaths in one year was 21 in 1916; and in 1921 the largest number of different jurisdictions represented visiting the lodge was 21. Apollo Lodge No. 386 has also had a lasting legacy of serving this country during times of need as forty six members left to serve in World War I and nineteen left to serve in World War II.

The “Lost History”

Unfortunately, our Brethren of Peter A.B. Widener Lodge No. 671 did not document much of their lodge’s origins and because of this, they represent the Lost History of our current lodge’s almost 200-year-old heritage. Not everything stays hidden forever, however, and even though more information may be uncovered in time, as of this writing, the following bits and pieces are only part of what we assume is their full narrative.

Even though Peter A.B. Widener Lodge No. 671 supplied biographical information regarding the lodge’s namesake, it did not share any additional insight into the history regarding the lodge’s formation–how it was specifically formed or by whom. Why they did this, who can say? Perhaps no one who could have shared such important information was able to pass on this knowledge or insight before their anniversary’s publication. Or perhaps our distant brethren in their humility did not feel some or much of this information would be valuable enough to any future generations to document it. Regardless of the cause, the full origin tale of Peter A.B. Widener Lodge No. 671 will have to remain a mystery and lost in the mists of the distant past …for now. What follows are the things we do know.

Peter AB Widener Lodge No. 671

Constituded: 1912

Lynwood Hall

Peter A.B. Widener, born in 1834 in Philadelphia, was a well-known millionaire, art collector, and philanthropist who had originally made his fortune assisting the Union army, during the Civil Wat, move goods and injured soldiers to and from the various hospitals operating within the city via his horse drawn carriages. After the war had finally ended, he would invest $90,000 into creating a city-wide trolley system that he would eventually upgrade into electric trolleys shortly after founding the Philadelphia Traction Company. Widener would use the great wealth he had gained from public transportation to make other profitable investments in industry becoming a co-founder of US Steel, the American Tobacco Company, Standard Oil and the International Mercantile Marine Company. He was considered one of the richest men in the United States in his lifetime and is ranked 29th overall on the Heritage Top 100 Wealthiest Americans in History List, being worth roughly $25 Billion at the time of his death. He died on November 6th, 1915 at age 80.

Before his passing he would also help establish The Widener Memorial School for Crippled Children in Philadelphia and after his wife’s death a few years later, his estate at Lynwood Hall in Elkins Park, would donate most of his art collection to the Free Library of Philadelphia which had an estimated value of $31 million and included over a dozen paintings by Rembrandt, and well-known Impressionist artists of the day Eduard Manet and Renoir.

In 1912, a few years before Peter’s death, a petition praying for a Warrant to constitute a regular lodge in Philadelphia in honor of his son George A. Widener, was presented and read before the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. George A. Widener, much like his father, had been a very charitable person and patron of the Arts, but unfortunately had perished on that ill-fated voyage of the HMS Titanic in April of 1912, along with Peter’s grandson Harry. The petition had been presented by several Master Masons, the majority of which had been members of Equity Lodge No. 591 of Philadelphia and had hoped to form the new lodge in memory of Peter’s son and grandson. However, it was eventually decided to change the name to Peter A.B Widener instead since George had never become a member of the Craft in his lifetime and at a Special Communication the lodge was constituted on October 14, 1912.

On December 27th, 1985 Peter A.B. Widener Lodge would merge with Apollo Lodge and the two would exist in harmony until fifteen years later when both would merge with Kensington Lodge No. 211 to become Widener-Apollo-Kensington Lodge No. 211 or WAK for short. Finally, in 2015 WAK would merge with the final founding legacy lodge of Houseman No. 211, Harry A. Houseman No. 717.

Harry A. Houseman Lodge No. 717

Constituded: 1922, Merged: 2014

The last of our founding legacy lodges to join the family was Harry A. Houseman Lodge No. 717 in 2015. At their 50th anniversary in 1972, our distant brethren, presented to the membership a booklet containing the historical record of their lodge up until that point. Although there were many anecdotes of their lodge’s triumphs and tribulations contained inside, the bulk of the writing was a comparative analysis of two distinct eras of the lodge’s history. It had been decided by the membership that comparing the first 20 years (the Old Frontier) with the second half of its history (the New Frontier) was a better way to gauge the life and vitality of their lodge and of more use to future generations than recounting a few nuggets of the lodge’s prehistory.

So as not to be repetitive with what has already been shared in that document, we will include a summary of some of those highlights here but include any additional information that may not have been available to our brethren in 1972.

On a warm Spring Day in the beginning of 1922, James R. Mcgraw invited several prominent Masons of the community to a dinner at the Arcadia Restaurant in Philadelphia. As a result of that dinner, it was decided that a new lodge would be created to serve the Masons living in and around the Somerton area. It was also decided that the name Harry A. Houseman would be used after receiving the consent of Harold E. and Wilbur L. Houseman in memory of their father, a well-known and respected Mason and citizen of the town.

On June 8th 1922, the original constitutional body consisted of 52 warrant members, of which only 10 remained in 1962 when that portion of the Golden Anniversary booklet was written. Fees for memberships and degree advancement were only $100, annual dues cost $8 and Grand Lodge fees were an almost negligible $2. They had 35 paid lifetime memberships at $200 a piece, long before that option was later discontinued, and at that time it was possible to gain an Honorary Membership for only $4 in place of a Lifetime Membership, however it is unclear as to what that actually entailed. At the close of 1962, membership stood at 483 members.

During the Old Frontier period between 1922 and 1942, membership increased by 105 with a total of 156 members at the close of 1942 and an average attendance of 47 members per meeting. In contrast, the New Frontier period between 1942 and 1962 saw membership increase to 483 with 84 members per meeting. The early years of the lodge saw financial difficulties and expenses (thanks to a mortgage on their meeting house) that would not be overcome until the second half of the lodge’s life. Refreshments were scarce in the earlier years of the lodge following meetings and consisted mostly of very few items and homemade cakes, whereas in the later years, meetings had fully catered meals thanks to increased membership and revenue. The Old Frontier era was defined more for its educational and fellowship events, which it had at all Stated Meetings and included illustrated lectures, music, singing, card games, pool, checkers etc Whereas the New Frontier period, in our brethren’s own words, had very few speakers and only the occasional movie presented at its meetings, showing an unfortunate decline in educational programs in the lodge’s later years.

The only acceptation to this was the appearance of our brother with a unique name. John Friend Lodge (1870-1944) was the proprietor of a cotton yarn manufacturing company in the Frankford neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Bro. Lodge invented a device for removing kinks from yarn and threads and was granted a patent for the device in 1911. Lodge was also a collector of Lincoln, Civil War memorabilia, and signatures of well-known Americans, amassing a large collection before his death.

He was well known for his enlightening talks on George Washington and Abraham Lincoln which he gave every year in the month of February. He had originally been a visiting member but gave up a lifetime membership and demitted from his original lodge, to become a full member of Harry A Houseman. Upon his wife’s death in 1958, the lodge received a bequest from his estate and a legacy monetary award, with instructions to establish a memorial service that would be done every year in the month February to honor those brethren who had laid down their working tools for the last time in the preceding year. This is a tradition we still continue to this day and each year a red carnation is the first to be laid out in honor of such an integral and important part of our lodge’s history.

It was also decided that the annual amount received from the legacy would be moved into a “J. Friend Lodge Memorial Fund” which was part of the Permanent Charity Fund and used for the relief of worthy distressed brethren and their families. Finally that any surviving members (at the time) of the original Warrant members would have their annual dues waived for the remainder of their lives as members of the lodge. The Net value of that first inheritance was almost $13,000 in 1963 which is around $128,000 in 2023.

In 1954, Harry A. Houseman Lodge No. 717 would help to establish the Neshaminy Valley Order of Demolay along with cosponsors Lehigh Valley Consistory, Lower Bucks County Group, and the Lower Southampton Square Club. Because it was not permitted at that time for a Masonic Lodge to act as a sponsoring body, individual members of the lodge joined this group instead, rather than the Lodge itself as a whole, until 1965 when the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania finally allowed the Lodge to be the sole sponsor.

In 1963, the William K. Bellows Service Honor Roll Award was presented to several members who had served the Lodge in the same capacity for more than 20 years of service. Brother Bellows had been Steward of the Lodge from 1922 to 1962 and seemed the most appropriate person to be the first to receive one. Other recipients that night were Bros. Samuel R. Sickel, who had served as Treasurer from 1922 to 1960 and James N. Richardson who had served as Secretary from 1922 to 1959.

In 1964 the tradition of recognizing the Masonic Birthdays of the membership was introduced and is still continued to this day even though the singing that accompanies the event may or may not be an improvement over previous years.

In 1967, a gathering of more than 10,000 Masons assembled at Valley Forge to take part in the dedication of the new George Washington statue being unveiled. Officers and members of Harry A. Houseman Lodge took part in the dedication and for several years after would annually assemble to place a wreath at the statue on Washington’s birthday. The Lodge’s total membership in 1972 was 565 members at the time of their 50th Anniversary.

The lodge’s original meeting house was the William E Ervin Hall – General Store and Post Office located on the southeast corner of Byberry Rd and Bustleton Pike. The lodge would meet on the third floor of this building from the date it was constituted in June 1922 until February of 1930 when it would move to The Watson Comly School building. The Comly School was also known as Somerton Masonic Hall, which was a historic building located in the Somerton neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Built in 1892-1893, the school was named for Watson Comly, a local resident who held many public offices, including serving several terms as a representative in the state legislature.

The building served as a school from its completion until 1928, when it was replaced by a larger building on Byberry Road. The same year, the site was acquired by Harry A. Houseman Lodge, in exchange for the land on which the new school was built. The lodge used it for many years from 1930 as a lodge hall and would remain there until eventually moving to the Masonic Hall in Bristol on Cedar Street in 2003. The lodge then merged with WAK No. 211 in 2015 a few years later.