Freemasonry In Idaho
Gold ! Much of the Masonic history of Idaho starts with the cry of "Gold'. Its discovery in 1860
near Pierce in what is now Clearwater County and the following year at Florence soon brought
some 15,000 men to these early placer camps.
A number of Masons found each other in this throng and formed a loosely
organized Masonic Club. During the summer of 1862 they erected a story-and-a-half
log building which was generally known as the Masonic Temple.
No lodge ever met within this building, none was ever organized at Florence,
but there was an unofficial Masonic group which met in the first Masonic Temple in Idaho.
Until March 3, 1863, when the Idaho Territory was created, part of what is now Idaho,
belonged to Washington Territory. Therefore, it is not unusual for official mention
of Masonic activity to be found in the Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Washington.
A dispensation was granted Deceanber 23, 1862, by the Grand Master of Washington to
"open and form a new lodge at Lewiston, Nez Perce County.'
In 1864, a charter was issued to what was then Lewiston Lodge No 10 Grand Lodge of
Washington, (Idaho Territory). By December, 1865, the Lodge surrendered its charter
and passed out of existence. The gold mining excitement had subsided and the members
had gone to other placer fields, leaving the Lodge with insufficient members to support itself.
In August of 1862, gold was discovered in the Boise Basin. The rush to the Boise Basin began
with the towns of Centerville and Pioneerville founded by November; Buena Vista and
Bannock City in December of the same year. Bannock City was changed to Idaho City in
1864. Idaho City became the center of population of the new Idaho Territory, which
position of prominence it held for many years.
Among these adventurers were many Masons, and there were no doubt many unrecorded
convocations on the high hills and in the low valleys of the Basin. There were miners
from California, Oregon, Washington, and Missouri who were Masons, with scattered
members from almost every jurisdiction in the world. From wherever they hailed,
their meetings prior to March 3, 1863, would have been in the governmental and
Masonic jurisdiction of Washington Territory. On that March day President Lincoln
ended the governmental jurisdiction of Washington Territory. On that day the Boise
Basin entered both governmentally and Masonically, a sort of no-man's land.
Where should the Masonic groups of this divorced domain apply for dispensation?
Virginia City, then in Idaho but now in Montana, went to Nebraska and later to
Kansas; other Montana groups were approved by Colorado;
Pioneerville by Washington Territory.
First of all there was the Lodge at Bannock City, which, followed by Boise City,
Placerville, and Owyhee Lodge of Silver City, applied to Oregon.
In July, 1863, upon the recommendation of Wasco No. 15, The Dalles, Oregon,
the Grand Master of Oregon granted a dispensation to Idaho Lodge U. D.
located at Bannock City, Idaho Territory. The Grand Master of Washington
immediately charged invasion of his jurisdiction. The controversy went on
for years and spread all over the United States.
The Grand Lodge of Oregon, however, in the face of this controversy granted a
charter on June 22, 1864, to Idaho Lodge No. 35 at Idaho City.
The brethren banded together, donating their spare fme, and in 1863 built
the first Masonic Temple at Bannock City, (Idaho City). It was totally destroyed
by fire which swept over Idaho City, May 18, 1865. Nine days following the fire,
a meeting was held in the school house at Idaho City "to take into consideration
the propriety of building a Masonic Hall for Idaho Lodge No. 35, A.F. & A.M.
as their Lodge Room".
The new temple was completed in September of that year.
During this time other groups of Masons had also applied for dispensation
from the Grand Lodge of Oregon to form lodges. A group in Pioneerville petitioned
the Grand Lodge of Washington for a dispensation. Dispensations were granted to
Boise Lodge and Owyhee Lodge by the Grand Lodge of Oregon. The Grand Lodge of
Oregon also chartered a Lodge at Placerville. The Grand Lodge of Washington
granted the dispensation to Pioneer Lodge.
Between 1865 and 1867 a movement originating with Idaho Lodge No. 35 gave
consideration to the formation of a Grand Lodge in the Idaho territory.
Finally in December 1867 the five lodges then working within the territory
met and organized the Grand Lodge of Idaho, AF&AM.
Photo of the Grand Lodge School of Instruction, 1898
Photo of the Grand Lodge of Idaho, 1899
Photo of the Grand Lodge of Idaho, 1900
Photos Courtesy of Bro. R. Roblee
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