July 12 set for Kerbyville Lodge 150th
From our weekly issue dated July 2, 2008
Dr. A.M. Belt (Photo provided)
Kerbyville Masonic Lodge, officially named the Western Star Lodge No. 18, was established shortly after the beginning of the Oregon gold rush, when pioneer settlers were moving into S.W. Oregon, and tensions between Native Americans and miners had flared into the Rogue Indian War.
Various events, especially gold strikes and establishment of transportation routes, played a role in where Kerbyville Masonic Lodge would be established.
In 1852, the year after the first gold strikes in this area, pack trains began carrying supplies to Oregon mining camps from Crescent City, Calif. The trail forked near present-day O’Brien with one branch going to the gold fields near the former settlements of Waldo and Browntown, and the other going toward Jacksonville in Jackson County. The Jacksonville fork of the trail crossed Illinois River in the approximate location of present-day Kerby.
Dr. Daniel Holton (Photo provided)
It was in Kerby, in 1853, that Col. James Kerby established a trading post on the west side of Illinois River. And in the following year he filed for a donation land claim on the east side of the river. This claim later would become the town site of Kerbyville and the future home of Western Star Lodge No. 18.
In 1856 Dr. Daniel Holton began promoting the idea of creating the town of Kerbyville and moving the Josephine County seat to this location because of its “centralized” location in relation to the major mining operations around Illinois Valley. The logic apparently made sense to voters, and Kerbyville was declared the county seat in July 1857. Holton later would become instrumental in establishment of Western Star Lodge No. 18.
The Masons of Kerbyville petitioned the-then recently formed Warren Lodge 10 in Jacksonville to sponsor formation of a lodge in Kerbyville. In 1857 they were granted a dispensation giving the group the authority to hold meetings to demonstrate ability to carry out the responsibilities of a lodge. These meetings require that three members from the sponsoring lodge are present to provide guidance.
The three members rode from Jacksonville on horseback or wagon to attend meetings in Kerbyville. A year later, in July 1858, the lodge was granted its charter by the Grand Lodge of Oregon.
The Western Star had a fairly unglamorous, beginning with the first meetings held in a barn. It was used for two years before meetings were moved into a house owned by Dr. Holton. This building was on the southwest corner of Sixth Street and Holton Road in Kerbyville and was purchased from Holton by the Masons in September 1859.
Meetings were briefly moved in April 1861 to a meeting hall in the second story of the Morris & Taylor store in Kerbyville, but a fire destroyed the building in September that year. The Masons negotiated to find a new location, but it is uncertain where they met until July 1864 when they purchased a two-story building from Kendal & Bolt.
This became known in later years as the old Kerbyville Masonic Bldg. It was on the northeast corner of Sixth Street and Hwy. 199.
In 1907 a new lodge was constructed across the street from the former lodge at the northwest corner of Sixth. The lower part of the building was used as a store with meetings held by the Masons on the second floor. This building is still standing, now home of the Dovetail Joint, and lettering at the top of the building identifies it as a Masonic Lodge.
The Masons met in this building until 1979 when the organization purchased the former Kerbyville Union High School. They renovated the interior and donated it to Rogue Community College to be used in perpetuity as an educational and community center. A small portion of the building is used as the Masonic Lodge, where members continue to meet to this date.
Within a year after Western Star Lodge No. 18 was established in 1858, a group of Masons requested Western Star to sponsor a lodge in Browntown, a mining community on Althouse Creek in Illinois Valley.
Browntown began as a mining camp when gold was discovered in Althouse Creek in 1852. Later, the largest gold nugget in Oregon history was found near Browntown. The town quickly became a point of much importance, and it is estimated that it had from 300 to 500 inhabitants. There probably were another 500 people living in town-like camps upstream, all of which were within 5 to 6 miles of Browntown.
By 1854, Browntown, in the vicinity of today’s Holland Store, was said to have two bakeries, 10 stores, four hotels, a bowling alley, seven saloons, three blacksmith shops and two “dance or fancy houses.”
In March 1859, Western Star Lodge agreed to sponsor a lodge in Browntown. It later was chartered as Belt Lodge No. 26. The lodge was named in honor of Dr. Belt, a prominent and active Oregon Grand Masonic Lodge leader. There is no record that he ever lived in or visited Illinois Valley.
The mines on Althouse Creek continued to produce gold for half a dozen years, and the Browntown area population remained large until about 1864, when mining activity along the creek and in the surrounding mountains was said to have “nearly winked out.” The town is assumed to have gradually faded toward abandonment as miners left.
With membership in Belt Lodge diminishing, it was decided to consolidate it with the Western Star Lodge, and in July 1864 the Oregon Grand Lodge gave permission for the consolidation. It was decided that the new, consolidated lodge would use part of the names from both lodges.
From Belt Lodge No. 26 they took “Belt” and from Western Star Lodge No. 18, they took “18.” The new lodge was named Belt Lodge No. 18, the name it continues to carry today.
After consolidation, the new lodge’s membership was spread over a wider region, and notices about meetings became increasingly difficult to dispense. Due to the great deal of time that members needed to invest in traveling from one side of the valley to the other it was decided in 1867 that meetings always would be conducted Saturday nights on or before the full moon. The group was known as the full moon Masons.
At the time the Belt and Western Star lodges merged, plans were being made to construct a railroad from Portland to California. By 1879, the railroad had been constructed from Portland to Roseburg, and in 1884 construction of the Oregon & California Railroad reached Grants Pass. The first passenger train arrived there on Christmas Eve the same year.
Around the same time that the railroad reached Grants Pass, a petition was submitted to Belt Lodge No. 18 to sponsor a new lodge in Grants Pass. Sponsorship was granted, and the new lodge was chartered in 1885 as Grants Pass Lodge No. 84. A year later, the county seat was moved from Kerbyville to Grants Pass.
Kerbyville Belt Lodge No. 18 continues to be active today providing community service and scholarships for Illinois Valley students. In July 2008 the lodge will celebrate its 150th anniversary as Josephine County’s first and oldest Masonic Lodge.
The public can join the Kerbyville Masons as they celebrate their 150th anniversary at what’s now the Rogue Community College Belt Bldg. at 24311 Redwood Hwy. in Kerby on Saturday, July 12. The ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. with the setting of a Ceremonial Cornerstone conducted by the Grand Master of Masons in Oregon and his Grand Officers.
This is an ancient tradition perpetuated by Masons for public buildings. The lodge will be open to the public, and various other ceremonies will be conducted until 1 p.m.
Click here to learn more about how you can tell us what you think
Advertisement:
