1st in Pennsylvania Freemasonry

Lodge of the Revolution—33 Officers of Continental Army were members of Lodge 2 and under the direct supervision of General George Washington.

Pennsylvania Meridian Sun Lodge No. 2

Free and Accepted Masons

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

 

Formed Through The Mergers Of

Lodge No. 2, F. & A.M., Pennsylvania Lodge No. 380, F. & A.M.

Pennsylvania Lodge No. 2, F. & A.M., Meridian Sun Lodge No. 158, F. & A.M.

Chartered 1758

MEETS FIRST TUESDAY OF EACH MONTH

EGYPTIAN HALL, MASONIC TEMPLE , PHILADELPHIA

-IN OUR FOURTH CENTURY-

We band of brothers continue our journey to make good men better and offer an opportunity to serve our fraternity and community for the betterment of man.  Our history is rich in this service and our future is bright. 

We are publishing Volume IV of the History of Pennsylvania Freemasonry and Lodge 2-the compilation of Masonic history told through the eyes of Pennsylvania’s oldest lodge.  Volumes I, II and III are in the Grand Lodge Library are a celebrating a century in print.  They are available for select viewing.  Volume IV will be published with the support and guidance of the of the Grand Lodge Library.

 

The earliest known use of the word "freemason" is

encountered in the London Assize of Wages, 1212 CE.

The first reference to a Mason's Lodge is found in 1277, and to "Freemasonry," in an English building contract of 1436.

   The oldest Masonic Document is the Regius MS., circa 1390.

 

The first use of the word "Freemason" in print was in 1563, in a book entitled 'Dives Pragmaticus.'

 

The first extended printed account of Freemasonry appears in Plot's 'Natural History Of Staffordshire', Oxford, 1686, pp. 316-18.

 

The first Masonic book is known as the "Roberts Constitutions," printed and sold by J. Roberts in London, 1722.

 

The first Official Masonic book is Anderson's 'The Constitutions of the Free-Masons', London, 1723, of which Benjamin Franklin (a Mason) published a reprint in Philadelphia in 1734,it being the first American Masonic Book.

 

The first duly constituted Lodge in America was The First Lodge of Boston (still in existance as St. John's Lodge), constituted July 30, 1733 by Henry Price of Boston.

 

The first native-born American to be made a Mason was Jonathan Belcher, born in Boston in 1681, and

made a Mason in Europe in 1704. He was governor of both Massachusetts and New Hampshire from 1730 to 1741.

 

Just slighly shy of one half of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were Masons; 31 of the 55

Delegates to the Constitutional Convention were Masons; so were many of Washington's Generals.

 

1787-African Lodge #459 was established under a charter issued by the Grand Lodge of England.  Four years later on June 24, 1791, the African Grand Lodge was established and duly constituted with Prince Hall deputized as Most Worshipful Grand Master

 

Promiment famous masons in American History include: Paul Revere, John Hancock, Joseph Warren, George Washington, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, James A. Garfield, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Warren G. Harding, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Lyndon Baines Johnson and Gerald R. Ford.

Pennsylvania Meridian Sun Lodge No. 2, has met in the Masonic Temple, One North Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania since its completion in 1876.

Pennsylvania Meridian Sun

Lodge #2

The Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free & Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania