Lodge History |
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It is May 6, 1966. The Lodge room is jammed as the officers in black tail coats, the Master in his silk hat, take their respective stations and places. Pendant from their collars are the ancient polished silver jewels of the Lodge, a century old. In front of the Master's pedestal is the ancient charter dated December 18, 1865. All is in readiness for the ceremonial entrance of the R.W. Grand Master of Masons in Pennsylvania to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Tyrian Lodge No. 362.
The mind reflects back over the intervening century to May 2, 1866, the date of constitution of the Lodge. The dress, the collars, the jewels, the aprons, the charter, were all the same. The first meeting place was within three blocks of Eighth and Peach Streets. Month in and month out, year in and year out the Lodge has been meeting steadily for 100 years. The founders are long gone. The Masters of the middle years up to 1920 are all dead. Only a few members from the early 1900's survive. But still Tyrian continues its steady course-onward and upward.
Tyrian Lodge No. 362 is not the oldest Masonic Lodge in the City of Erie, Pa., but it is the oldest surviving Lodge. Two other attempts to plant the seed of Masonic wisdom in Erie had been made, but in both cases the tree had soon withered and died. Wayne Lodge No. 124 had been warranted December 13, 1810, and its warrant was vacated March 7, 1825. Presque Isle Lodge No. 235 was warranted December 28, 1848, and its warrant surrendered on June 6, 1864. Erie in its early days was apparently barren soil for Freemasonry. The Morgan affair and resulting anti-Masonic movement (1827-1836) undoubtedly prevented any firm growth.
Erie as a settlement of Europeans is 212 years old. First founded as the village surrounding the French Fort Presque Isle (Second Street west of Parade) in 1754, it remained in French hands until 1759, when the collapse of Fort Duquesne at Pittsburgh and of the French power west of Montreal made its position untenable. The British then moved in, building a new fort on the east bank of Mill Creek where the memorial block house now stands. This fell to the ferocity of the savages in Pontiac's Rebellion in 1763, and for the next thirty-two years the place was abandoned to the Indians and the beasts.
In 1795 the present city was founded and experienced its great historic moment in the year 1812-13, when it served as the construction base for the United States fleet on the Great Lakes which sailed from Erie under Commodore Perry in September, 1813 to win the Battle of Lake Erie. This saved the Inland Seas for the young republic.
The intervening years saw the failures of Lodge 124 and 235 above referred to, and a fresh start was made in 1865 when a petition was sent to Grand Lodge signed by ten brethren (only two of whom had been members of Lodge 235) praying for a warrant for a Lodge "at Erie, Penna. to be called 'Tyrian Lodge'."
The Grand Lodge minutes for December 27, 1865 contain the following excerpts from the report of the Grand Master: "I have granted the following dispensations--New Warrants 12, 7 of which have been constituted.....The other 5 are.....No. 362, Erie....."
On March 22, 1866, the Grand Master, Lucius H. Scott, issued a commission to District Deputy Grand Master Dick, authorizing him to constitute the new Lodge, which he returned on May 5, 1866 reporting he had performed this duty on May 2, 1866.
The Erie Weekly Gazette for May 10, 1866, contains the following brief note: "The Masonic Lodge in this city has been revived....." The first minutes are those for a meeting held May 4, 1866 two days after the constitution. It will be observed the place of meeting is not given and extensive research leaves the exact location in doubt.
During its First year Tyrian had a rapid growth. Starting with ten charter members, its first return to the Grand Lodge on December 27, 1866, showed fifty-four initiations making total membership at the end of the year sixty-four members or an increase of 540%. The charter members are: Osman A. Dolph, J.S. Childs, Jesse Lord, W.F. Price, S.T. Perley, T. Cook, L.J. Williams, H. Webster, E. McComber, and J.M. Bryant.
Excerpt taken from: "A Lodge History" Published 1966 By The Committee on the Centennial Celebration of Tyrian Lodge No. 362