| Our Lodge History |
| Written by Paul K Edman |
| Wednesday, 26 September 2007 10:02 |
|
The Lodge’s charter, the only one signed by Grand Master Blackman, is dated 24 May 1859. Meetings were held at ‘The Brick Store’, 883 Boston Post Rd, in the original section of the second floor of the present building. In 1976 the Lodge placed a commemorative bronze plaque on the building as an American Bicentennial event and as the Sesquicentennial of the Town of Madison. A panoramic photograph of this event is in place in the dining room of the Madison Masonic Temple. The Lodge also met on the second floor of the ‘People’s Store’ after it had been moved to the 690 area of the Boston Post Rd to make room for the ‘new’ Memorial Town Hall in the late 1890’s. The Lodge also met for a short time upstairs in J. Myron Hull’s office building and U S Post Office on Wall St. The Lodge moved into the Monroe Building, 780 Boston Post Rd, in 1915. It was an afterthought, as Mr Monroe had planned for his drug store and the Post Office on the ground floor and some small offices and the telephone exchange on the second floor. Mr Monroe agreed to have a third floor added to the eastern half of the building. Additional brick was ordered by the contractor, and the difference in the brick is obvious on the east wall of the building. A square and compasses remain to this day in the centerpiece trim above the roofline at the front of the building. The Lodge moved to the Memorial Town Hall in September 1939. In the past year, Town offices and vault had been created on the first floor and the second floor had been extended from the balcony. This work had been done by the Town now that the building was not needed for school athletics and other events. The new school gymnasium had been completed in 1937. The chapel owned by the Congregational Church, two doors east of the Town Hall, was available for Lodge use for dinners. The second floor area in the Town Hall was open to the rafters, and a partition from a small ante room was in place. In the Spring of 1961, Bro John (Jack) Frost, a Meriden mason, butcher, and owner of Frost’s Restaurant, a summer season business on the Boston Post Rd at Signal Hill, had passed away. The restaurant and meat market had been constructed in 1947. Mrs. Frost and her daughter did not open the restaurant for the 1961 season, and the Lodge purchased the property in August 1961. Approval was obtained from the Grand Lodge, minor alterations were made to the interior for Lodge use, and stated communications were held in the building beginning in September 1961. The walk-in refrigerator area was used as a furnace room and the water pipes were hung below the ceiling. The parking area was eliminated in front of the building and a huge quantity of clean fill was obtained when the Congregational Church razed the Webb House to have its Church House built. Additional fill was also obtained when the AT&T cable was laid through town along the Boston Post Rd. Extensive interior renovations were made in the late 1980’s, followed by exterior work in the mid 1990’s that included exterior wall insulation with a brick veneer, energy efficient windows, sidewalks, a rear porch, and soffit lighting. The kitchen now has all commercial appliances since a new refrigerator was added in April 2005. |
