The Grand Lodge of New York (officially, the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York) is the largest and oldest independent organization of Freemasons in the U.S. state of New York.[1][2] The headquarters of the Grand Lodge is the Grand Lodge Building located at 23rd Street in Manhattan.
The Grand Lodge of New York was founded December 15, 1782 and it acts as the coordinating body for many Masonic functions undertaken throughout the state. Its various committees organize the Masonic Home in Utica, the Livingston Masonic Library[3] and various charitable events around New York State. The Grand Lodge of New York has jurisdiction over approximately 24,000 Freemasons, organized in more than 800 Lodges in New York State[4] and an additional 9 lodges in Lebanon. The GLNY first began chartering lodges in Lebanon in 1924.[5]
History
Colonial and federalist eras: 1730–1820
The first documented presence of Freemasonry in New York dates from the mid-1730s, when Daniel Coxe Jr. (1673–1739), was appointed by the Duke of Norfolk, the Grand Master of the Premier Grand Lodge of England, known to historians as the "Moderns", to act as a Provincial Grand Master for the provinces of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. No authenticated primary source records exist of his tenure as Provincial Grand Master, and he died a few years after his appointment. Thus, it seems doubtful that he exercised any real authority in Masonic endeavors.
From 1738 to the 1780s, additional Warrants were issued by the GLE (Moderns) to Francis Goelet (1738–1753), George Harrison (1753–1771) and Sir John Johnson (1771–1783) to serve as Provincial Grandmaster. As Johnson was a supporter of the British during the American Revolution, he is believed to have taken his warrant with him when he fled to Canada, thus leaving the Moderns Lodges without a Provincial Grand Master.[6]
To further complicate matters, by the 1750s, the Antient Grand Lodge of England, known to historians as the "Ancients", a rival Masonic Grand Lodge, had also created a Provincial Grand Lodge of New York, which subsequently chartered lodges under its own jurisdiction. Additional lodges were chartered in New York by the Grand Lodge of Scotland and the Grand Lodge of Ireland.
The Ancients retained their charter throughout the Revolution, and it was based upon this charter that an independent Grand Lodge of New York was created in 1781, with Robert R. Livingston as Grand Master. The Grand Lodge of New York was officially organized on December 15, 1782, under the Provincial Grand Warrant dated September 5, 1781, from the “Athol” or Antient Grand Lodge of England.
The Grand Lodge declared its independence and assumed its modern title “Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York” on June 6, 1787. While the "Athol" Charter descended from the "Ancients", Livingston himself was a member of a "Modern" Lodge. Thus the two rival Grand Lodge traditions, which in England did not unite until 1813, had already merged before that in New York State.
Grand Lodge Buildings: 1826-1856 and 1875-Present
Façade of the 24th street building of the Masonic Hall in Manhattan
Early Masonic meetings and meetings of the Grand Lodge were likely held at taverns as well as an early iteration of Tammany Hall. On June 24, 1826 the cornerstone was laid for a Gothic style Masonic Hall on Broadway in lower Manhattan between Reade and Pearl Streets, directly across from the original site of the New York Hospital.[7] This would serve as the home of the Grand Lodge until it the building was demolished in 1856.[8] Due to infighting in the Grand Lodge, the Panic of 1857, and the Civil War, it would not be until the 1870s, that the Grand Lodge would again have a permanent meeting location. In 1870, the cornerstone was laid for a new Second French Empire Style building which served as the headquarters of the Grand Lodge from 1875 to 1909.
The current Grand Lodge building is located at 23rd Street and 6th Avenue and was built in 1909, on the same site as the 1875 Grand Lodge Building. At the time, the building caused some controversy, and Past Grand Master James Ten Eyck resigned as Trustee of the Masonic Hall and Asylum Fund in an effort to convince the then sitting Grand Master Townsend Scudder that the construction of the building would be unwise.[9]
Noteworthy Lodges
St. John's Lodge No. 1, chartered on December 5, 1757,[10] is the oldest operating Lodge under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of New York.[11] St. John's Lodge is the custodian of what is now known as the George Washington Inaugural Bible. On April 30, 1789, it was upon this Bible that George Washington took his oath of office as the first president of the United States.[12] In 2009, the Lodge formed a registered public charity for the purpose of preserving, maintaining and restoring the George Washington Inaugural Bible. In 2014, the St. John's Lodge No. 1 Foundation, Inc. received recognition as an IRS 501(c)3.[13]
Holland Lodge No. 8 was founded in 1787 and originally conducted ritual in the Dutch language. It is the largest lodge by membership currently in the Grand Lodge of New York, and was the lodge in which Franklin Delano Roosevelt took his Masonic degrees.[14]
Warren Lodge No. 32 has the distinction of being the New York's only remaining Full Moon Lodge, whereby its monthly meeting date is the "Thursday before every full moon", rather than on a set calendar day.[15]
Community and charity
The Grand Lodge of New York has a long history of supporting charitable causes. Among the organizations that are rooted in its charitable endeavors are, the Masonic Medical Research Institute, Acacia Village and Masonic Home in Utica; the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Library and Museum in New York and Utica; the Masonic Youth Camp at Camp Turk in Woodgate; the DeWint House at Tappan and its many charitable activities of its annual Brotherhood Fund Drive. The Grand Lodge sponsors drug and alcohol awareness programs in schools, and gives thousands of dollars a day to worthy charities around the State.
The Masonic youth group Organization of Triangles, Inc., was founded in New York in 1925.[16]
Racial and Religious Equality
Since 2001, the Grand Lodge of New York has had mutual recognition with the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of New York.[17]
In May 2012, at its Grand Lodge Session, Grand Lodge of New York approved the findings of a Special Committee which has determined that certain Grand Lodges, notably those following the Swedish Rite, restrict their membership to members of the Christian faith. As a consequence of this, the members of the Grand Lodge of New York voted unanimously that non-Christian Masons living in these Grand Jurisdictions would not come under the exclusivity enjoyed by said Grand Lodges. A notice was sent out to all Grand Lodges with which the Grand Lodge of New York is in amity, that the Grand Lodge of New York will recognize as Regular any Lodges opened up in these territories by any other regular Grand Lodge.
Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 14th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities and clients. Modern Freemasonry broadly consists of two main recognition groups: Regular Freemasonry, which insists that a volume of scripture be open in a working lodge, that every member professes belief in a Supreme Being, that no women be admitted, and that the discussion of religion and politics do not take place within the lodge; and Continental Freemasonry, which consists of the jurisdictions that have removed some, or all, of these restrictions.
A Masonic lodge, often termed a private lodge or constituent lodge, is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also commonly used as a term for a building in which such a unit meets. Every new lodge must be warranted or chartered by a Grand Lodge, but is subject to its direction only in enforcing the published constitution of the jurisdiction. By exception the three surviving lodges that formed the world's first known grand lodge in London have the unique privilege to operate as time immemorial, i.e., without such warrant; only one other lodge operates without a warrant – the Grand Stewards' Lodge in London, although it is not also entitled to the "time immemorial" title. A Freemason is generally entitled to visit any lodge in any jurisdiction in amity with his own. In some jurisdictions this privilege is restricted to Master Masons. He is first usually required to check, and certify, the regularity of the relationship of the Lodge – and be able to satisfy that Lodge of his regularity of membership. Freemasons gather together as a Lodge to work the three basic Degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft, and Master Mason.
The history of Freemasonry encompasses the origins, evolution and defining events of the fraternal organisation known as Freemasonry. It covers three phases. Firstly, the emergence of organised lodges of operative masons during the Middle Ages, then the admission of lay members as "accepted" or "speculative" masons, and finally the evolution of purely speculative lodges, and the emergence of Grand Lodges to govern them. The watershed in this process is generally taken to be the formation of the first Grand Lodge in London in 1717. The two difficulties facing historians are the paucity of written material, even down to the 19th century, and the misinformation generated by masons and non-masons alike from the earliest years.
The United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) is the governing Masonic lodge for the majority of freemasons in England, Wales, and the Commonwealth of Nations. Claiming descent from the Masonic Grand Lodge formed 24 June 1717 at the Goose & Gridiron Tavern in London, it is considered to be the oldest Masonic Grand Lodge in the world, together with the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and the Grand Lodge of Ireland.
Prince Hall Freemasonry is a branch of North American Freemasonry for African Americans founded by Prince Hall on September 29, 1784. There are two main branches of Prince Hall Freemasonry: the independent State Prince Hall Grand Lodges, most of which are recognized by State grand lodges, and those under the jurisdiction of the National Grand Lodge. Prince Hall Freemasonry is the oldest and largest predominantly African-American fraternity in the United States.
The Grand Lodge of Antient Free and Accepted Masons of Scotland is the governing body of Freemasonry in Scotland. It was founded in 1736. About one third of Scotland's lodges were represented at the foundation meeting of the Grand Lodge.
The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, commonly referred to as the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts and abbreviated GLMA, is the main governing body of Freemasonry within Massachusetts, and maintains Lodges in other jurisdictions overseas, namely Panama, Chile, the People's Republic of China, and Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba.
The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, officially The Right Worshipful Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania and Masonic Jurisdictions Thereunto Belonging, sometimes referred to as Freemasons of Pennsylvania is the premier masonic organization in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Grand Lodge claims to be the oldest in the United States, and the third oldest in the world after England and Ireland, having been originally established as the Provincial Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania in 1731. This claim is disputed by both the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts and the Grand Lodge of Virginia.
This is a chronology of the formation of "regular" or "mainstream" Masonic Grand Lodges in North America, descending from the Premier Grand Lodge of England or its rival, the Antient Grand Lodge of England. A Grand Lodge is the governing body that supervises "Craft" Freemasonry in a particular jurisdiction or geographical area.
The Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of Nebraska is one of two governing bodies of Freemasonry in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It was established on September 23, 1857. The Grand Lodge of Nebraska is headquartered at Lincoln, Nebraska.
The Grand Lodge of West Virginia is a freemason organization in West Virginia. It is the only Grand Lodge recognized by the United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) and hence "regular" in the state. It had maintained the West Virginia Masonic Home.
The Grand Lodge of Ohio, formally known as the Grand Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons of Ohio, is the governing body of the largest group of Masonic lodges in Ohio. The Grand Lodge of Ohio follows the Anglo-American tradition of Freemasonry that is common in the United States. In 2023, the Grand Lodge reported a total membership of 75,000 Master Masons.
Masonic Hall in New York City is the headquarters of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York. It has been located at 23rd Street and 6th Avenue in the Flatiron district since 1875. The current building, completed in two phases, dates from 1909 and 1913.
The Grand Lodge of New Jersey Free & Accepted Masons is the official governing body of New Jersey Masonic Lodges as recognized by other Grand Jurisdictions throughout the world. As early as 1730, New Jersey was one of the first states with active Freemasonry. The Grand Lodge of NJ was formally established in 1787. The Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of State of New Jersey and The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of New Jersey recognize each other as Masonic Grand Lodges.
Freemasonry in Scotland in lodges chartered by the Grand Lodge of Scotland comprises the Scottish Masonic Constitution as regular Masonic jurisdiction for the majority of freemasons in Scotland. There are also lodges operating under the Scottish Masonic Constitution in countries outside of Scotland. Many of these are countries linked to Scotland and the United Kingdom through the Commonwealth of Nations and prior colonies and other settlements of the British Empire although there are several lodges in countries such as Lebanon, Belgium, Chile and Peru, which do not have such connections.
The Grand Lodge of Tennessee, officially the Grand Lodge of the Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Tennessee, is the main governing body of Freemasonry within Tennessee. This Grand Lodge was established in Knoxville, Tennessee, on December 27, 1813, by nine Masonic lodges operating within the state. In 2017, the Grand Lodge of Tennessee had a reported membership of 34,858 Master Masons, and by 2020 the membership had fallen only slightly to 33,200.
The Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of North Carolina, also known as the Grand Lodge of North Carolina, was founded 12 December 1787. Previously, it was the Provincial Grand Lodge of North Carolina, being under jurisdiction of the Premier Grand Lodge of England since 14 Jan 1771. It is currently composed of 360 active lodges across the 100 counties of North Carolina. The Grand Lodge recognizes its Prince Hall counterpart, The Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of North Carolina and its Jurisdictions, Inc., and maintains co-territorial jurisdiction and encourages visitation between the two entities.
Freemasonry in the United States is the history of Freemasonry as it was introduced from Britain and continues as a major secret society to the present day. It is a fraternal order that brings men together to gain friendship and opportunity for advancement and community progress. It has been nonpolitical except for a period around 1820 when it came under heavy attack in the Northeast. That attack reduced membership, but it recovered and grew after 1850. Growth ended in the late 20th century and membership has declined.
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