The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-11-06
MASONIC CENTENNIAL.
The Celebration of Harmony Lodge, of
 Waterbury,

WalerDuFy,
 One of the most notable. fraternal cell ebrations of the year in Connecticut, the centennial of Harmony lodge, r. & A. M., of Waterbury, will take place next Monday. An elaborate pro- gramme has been arranged and will be carried out in the presence of hundreds of invited Masons, including all the Grand Lodge officers and notables in the order from all parts of the state, The literary exercises will take place in Masonic Temple and will include his- torical address by Rev. Dr. Joseph An- derson and an original poem by Rev. A. M. Lewis, of Montpelier, Vt., read by himself. MT. Lewis was formerly a principal of the Waterbury High school and entered the Episcopal ministry be- fore parting from the Brass city.
 Harmony lodge was not the first Ma sonic organization in that section, for in July, 1765, a charter was granted to a lodge, the name of which is now un- known and the records lost, but which is believed to have been subsequently, absorbed by King Solomon's lodge of Woodbury, after an existence of only a few weeks.
 The records of Harmony lodge are singularly complete from the start. It was organized with James Byington as the first master, in Salem district, now Naugatuck. The ceremony took place in the house of Daniel Beecher, which is still standing in the turnpike between Naugatuck and Union City. The place was in the old days a, popular country tavern.
 The records show that the lodge held its communications in this tavern in 1797, 1908, 1912, 1916, 1924, 1888 and 1885 and probably during some of the inter- | Yening years. From 1797 to 1895 the | communications were held on alternate l months in the Salem or Naugatuck dis trict and in Waterbury Center. By 1 permission of the Grand Lodge in 1S05 the attenuation was made yearly in stead of monthly. The membership ir | the two sections of the old town was | about equal at this time. The home ot the lodge was fixed in Salem in ISIS | where 1t continued for twenty years W cblSI Iltu dSSulleu so 11luGH more prominence in 1841 that the lodge moved it's quarters back here, with the per mission of the Grand Lodge. The plot | of ground on which the lodge held its first meeting in Waterbury is the same on which the handsome Masonic tenn pie, dedicated in 1888, now stands.
 The old records contain many inter. esting items. It is told that on Febru. ary 22 1900, the lodge met in mourning 1 for its late brother, George Washing. ton, and that the members were as. | sessed two dollars and seventy-five | cents each for the expenses of the occa. sion. Until 1852 yearly days of reckon. 1 ing were held, for it was the custom tC | loan at interest to members all the sur. plus funds of the lodge. A considerable business in this line was done until the matter became a nuisance. There were notes outstanding against members fol an aggregate of two hundred dollars ir 1918.
 The financial items of expenses fol rum, cider, spirits, sugar, crackers an6 cheese show that the good brethren went neither hungry nor dry at theil meetings.
 The lodge went through the anti-Ma. sonic outcry in better shape than most | of the Connecticut lodges, for in 1S3. | there were fifty names of members o1 | the organization on the historic decla. ration of principles issued by the Grand Lodge of Connecticut.
 One of the gifts of the lodge was 2 pair of black hose to Brother Bron son." as compensation for his annua sermon in St. Johns church. It hat been the custom to give gloves on like occasions, but it was proposed to dt better by Preacher Bronson This was no mean gift in those days of knicker l lockers and imported hose.
 Harmony lodge has carried more thar one thousand names on it's roll since i was instituted
 A notable figure at the celebration will be Father Sturges M Judd, tho | oldest Mason in continuous member ship in the state and still one of tht most active. He is a native of Bethel and distinctly remembers seeing mer drafted for the war of 1872. He is stil hearty, and an attendant at all the meetings and functions of the order | His memory is excellent and much tha concerns the unwritten history of liar mony lodge comes from the excellen "reminiscences of "Father" Judd.