HISTORY OF
HARTSVILLE LODGE #113
HARTSVILLE, TENNESSEE
Union Lodge #113 F.& A.M. convened for organization Feb. 8,
1845. It was organized under a dispensation from the Grand Lodge
dated 22nd January A.L.5845, A.D.1845.
The officers appointed were:
Humphrey Bate, Worshipful Master
Thomas Stalker, Senior Warden
Pascal Flack, Junior Warden
Other brethren present were:
S. T. Seay Paschal Head
S. H. Lauderdale Thomas M. Patterson
The Lodge operated under dispensation until the charter was
authorized October 8, 1845. The officers were elected every six
months and the dues seems to have been $2.00.
There were no lodge meetings from April 2, 1861 to June 24,
1865. No mention is made of the War Between the States in the
minutes.
January 2, 1904 the Lodge granted the Eastern Star permission
to use the Hall when organized.
The name of the Lodge was changed from Union Lodge #113
F.& A.M. to Hartsville Lodge #113 F.& A.M. on October 15, 1910.
The Lodge was wired for electricity in 1917. On April 20,
1918 the Lodge bought $300.00 worth of Liberty Bonds. The dues
were raised to $3.00 per year on April 12, 1919.
You will no doubt find a list of some of the past
officers interesting:
1845...Humphrey Bate, Worshipful Master
Thomas Stalker, Senior Warden
Pascal Flack, Junior Warden
1850...J.J. Dyer, Worshipful Master
B.W. Mills, Senior Warden
E.T. Seay, Junior Warden
1855...Thomas L. Winston, Worshipful Master
A.M. Debow, Senior Warden
J.C. Crenshaw, Junior Warden
1860...Thomas Stalker, Worshipful Master
C.L. Bennett, Senior Warden
P. Lipscomb, Junior Warden
1870...J.S. Dyer, Worshipful Master
N.W. McConnell, Senior Warden
J.P. Andrews, Junior Warden
1905...R.D. Powell, Worshipful Master
M.F. Hall, Senior Warden
E.V. Hale, Junior Warden
1910...A.J. Hager, Worshipful Master
A.C. McMurry, Senior Warden
N.C. Henry, Junior Warden
1915...R.D. Powell, Worshipful Master
M.A. Martin, Senior Warden
E.N. Littleton, Junior Warden
1920...John Kerr, Worshipful Master
Jim Linville, Senior Warden
R.P. Moss, Junior Warden
This Lodge has survived five wars and a number of financial
depressions.
The jewels of the Lodge are of coin silver, and at least 100
years old.
Soon after our Lodge was organized, it started an educational
program. In 1856 members helped lay the cornerstone of
Hartsville Female Institute and in 1868 took the responsibility
of operating the school. A tablet on the building shows that the
Masonic Institute was erected in 1858; burned in 1878 and was
re-erected in 1879. The building committee for the re-erection
of the Hartsville Masonic Institute was:
Prof. H.S. Kennedy, Chairman
A.S. Reeves, Sec.
H.C. Ellis, Treas.
R.M. Potts, Treas. Finance Committee
Col. W.J. Hale
F.W. Thorp
The tablet bearing the above names was presented by H. Clay
Burton of Louisville, Kentucky in 1880.
In 1905, the Hartsville Masonic Institute building was
offered to the school directors of the seventh district for
school purposes at a rental of $100.00 per year.
In 1907 , the Trustees of the Hartsville Masonic Institute
were empowered by the Lodge to borrow $800.00 balance needed to
build a new chapel for the school. On April 17, 1919 the Lodge
conveyed the Hartsville Masonic Institute property to Trousdale
County with the understanding that the county was to build a
public school building, the consideration being $2500.00.
Dr. A.G. Donohue died May 21, 1955. He was one of the first
doctors in Hartsville. He was buried with Masonic honors back of
the old Donoho home, conducted by John Hall Henry.
This history was prepared by Bro. Joe Rickman PM to be presented
at Homecoming Night May 18, 1992 at Hartsville Lodge.
************************************************************************
The Hartsville Masonic Institute
Compiled and Edited from Original Minutes
of Hartsville Masonic Lodge
by Joe Rickman
This Institute first came into being about 1838 and was named Hartsville
Female Academy.
The original organizers are unknown, but it was situated on the site of the
later to come, Masonic Institute.
The building either burned or was torn down in the 1850's, and a new one
erected in 1856.
The Institute was incorporated by the State of Tennessee in 1856, and was
named Hartsville Female Institute. The Trustees were: James H. Lauderdale,
E.T. Seay, S.W. Leseur, R.M. Potts, J.G. Bledsoe, E.P. Gifford, and Thomas
Stalker.
On June 14, 1856 Union Lodge No.113, chartered by the Grand Lodge in 1845,
and later had its name changed to Hartsville Masonic Lodge No. 113, accepted
the
invitation of the Board of Trustees to lay the cornerstone of their building in
conjunction with the Order of Odd Fellows on July 4, 1856.
The Lodge selected Thomas Stalker to act as Grand Master for this occasion.
R. M. Potts and C. L. Bennett were to procure the silver vessels and also the
corn, wine, and oil. James Gwinn, A. M. Debow, and S. W. Stubblefield were
appointed to procure music. The Lodge ordered the Secretary to furnish 5-cent,
10-cent, 25-cent, 50-cent, one-dollar silver, one-dollar gold, and two-dollar-
and-a-half gold pieces to be placed in the cornerstone.
On July 4, 1856, the Lodge formed a procession and marched to the building
site, where the cornerstone was laid in the usual manner in the northeast
corner. T. C. Bowden delivered a very eloquent and entertaining address to a
large and intelligent audience.
The Hartsville Female Institute continued to operate under the private
stockholders until 1868, when, being very much in debt, it was offered to the
Masonic Lodge if they would pay off the indebtness. After much discussion and
investigation, the Lodge agreed to take possession of the school and supervise
its operation.
A. G. Donoho, John Hutchin, J. W. Johnson, C. L. Bennett, and W. J. Hale
were appointed Trustees and the school was renamed Hartsville Masonic Female
Institute.
In December 1868, the deed to the Institute was filed in the Sumner County
Courthouse. Hartsville at that time was in Sumner County.
T. M. Patterson was appointed the first Principal of Hartsville Female
Masonic Institute. Money needed to operate the school was raised by soliciting
the various Lodges and donations by individuals.
On November 5, 1879, the Masonic Lodge made the following resolution:
Resolved that it is the sense of this Lodge that our Brother, T. M. Patterson,
agent to solicit aid for the Masonic Female Institute, did not transcend his
authority in soliciting aid from His Majesty, our Brother, King William the
First of Prussia and that he has authority in soliciting aid from His Majesty
and the friends of education in any and all parts of the world. Evidently, T.
M. Patterson was censured by some of the members for this act, and there's no
record of any response by King William.
In July of 1871, a committee consisting of Arch Allen, J. P. Andrews, and
N. W. McConnell was appointed to supervise the erection of a new building for
the school. They entered into a contract with C. L. Bennett to build it for
$1775.00
The building was completed the following year. The name was changed to
Hartsville Masonic Institute and accepted both male and female students.
The school building burned in 1868 and was re-erected in 1870. The build-
ing committee were: Professor H. S. Kennedy, A. S. Reeves, and H. C. Ellis.
The finance committee: R. M. Potts, Col. W. J. Hale, and F. W. Throp. These names
are on a concrete tablet presented by H. Clay Burton of Louisville, Kentucky, in
1880. It now rests on the bell pedestal in the courthouse lawn.
The bell, dated 1879, once hung in the belfry of Hartsville Masonic
Institute and was taken out when the school ceased to operate. For many years
it lay forgotten, hidden away in a storeroom at Hartsville High School. In
1973 it was discovered and placed in its present location. It now tolls the
death of a Mason, one toll for each year of his life.
The Minute Books from 1773 to 1905 are missing and so most of the history
of Hartsville Masonic Institute is lost during those tears.
In 1907 a committee consisting of J. C. Fitzpatrick, J. B. Johnson, and
J. W. Darwin were authorized by the Lodge to lease Hartsville Masonic Institute
to the public school directors for the 7th school district of Trousdale County
for two years for $100.00 per year. The school directors were: R.F. Langford,
M. D. Rickman, W. D. Winn, and W. B. Call, Principal.
On January 22, 1909, the Trustees of Hartsville Masonic Institute reported:
We, your Board of Trustees, in accordance with your instructions to
negotiate and if possible make sale of Hartsville Masonic Institute
beg to make the following report: We have succeeded in selling said
property to the Board of Education of Trousdale County for the sum
of $2500.00 with the understanding that said property was to be used
for school purposes only, and to revert back to Union Lodge No. 113
should it ever cease to be used as described in the Deed of Convey-
ance. Terms of sale, $500.00 cash and two notes of $1000.00 each.
The notes and Deed of Conveyance bears date of November 30, 1909,
but owing to the fact that some members of the Board of Education
live in remote parts of the country, it was some time before their
signatures to the notes could be procured. Hence, the papers were
not delivered until January 3, 1910.
This resolution was made April 17, 1919. "In view of the great interest
of Hartsville Masonic Lodge in the upbuilding and maintenance of Hartsville
Masonic Institute as an institution of learning and in view of the fact that
said property is now owned by the County of Trousdale under a deed from the
said Lodge which deed contains a reversionary clause providing that said
property revert to said Lodge under the conditions and limitations there-in
contained and that said County of Trousdale is now occupying said property and
conducting thereon a high school.
Therefore, be it resolved that Hartsville Masonic Lodge execute and deliver
to said County of Trousdale a quit claimed deed to said property, provided said
County make to said Lodge a satisfactory guarantee that it will as soon as
practical begin the erection of and prosecute to as early completion as prac-
ticable such building as now contemplated by said County to cost from twenty
to thirty thousand dollars. Be it further resolved that should said County in
its wisdom deem it advisable that the educational interest and the public wel-
fare would be better subserved by locating said High School at some other place,
then in such event, Hartsville Lodge asks that said County permit said property
to quietly and peacably revert to the Lodge under the deed herein before ment-
ioned. Be it further resolved that in event of such reversion, Hartsville
Lodge hereby pledges itself to return to the County the purchase price of said
property to wit: $2500.00.
In June 1919 the Lodge paid the County School System twenty-five hundred
dollars and retained possession of the school premises. The property was then
resold to Sam Johnson in August for eighty-six hundred and twenty-five dollars.
The old building and its spacious grounds was converted into an apartment
house and over the years deteriorated into a dilapidated hull. It was razed
in 1972 to make room for an apartment complex.
And so this noble old building, like most of our landmarks had outlived
its time and fell a victim to so-called progress. It's so sad that it couldn't
have been preserved years ago and made into a public shrine or museum.
As I finish this brief history of Hartsville Masonic Institute, all com-
piled from our pld Lodge Minute Books, I hope it will bring back pleasant
memories to those few of us remaining who had the privilege of attending school
there.
******************************************************************************
Hartsville
Masonic Female Institute
Trousdale County, Tennessee
The Trustees of the above Institution take pleasure in announcing to the public
that they have secured the services of Prof. William A. Hughes, "late" of Vir-
Virnia", a well qualified teacher of thirty years experience.
Prof. Hughes will be assisted by his daughter, Miss C. J. Hughes, and no
pains or effort will be spared by them or the Trustees to make this Institution
a first class school, worthy the patronage of the friends of a thorough and
practical education.
The first session will commence on Tuesday, October 11, 1870. All who wish to
enter should be present on the day school opens.
RATES OF TUITION, FIRST CLASS
Orthography, Reading, Penmanship, Mental Arithmetic, &c__________________$8.00
SECOND CLASS
Practical History, Geography, Primary History, Natural Philosophy,
English, Grammar commenced, &c.,&c.......................................$12.00
THIRD CLASS
English, Grammar, Natural Philosophy, United States History, Anatomy,
Astronomy, Algebra, &c...................................................$16.00
FOURTH CLASS
Ancient History, Mythology, Natural History, Chemistry, Algebra, Mental
Philosophy, Geography, Moral Sciences, Logic, Rhetoric, Greek and Latin,
if desired...............................................................$20.00
EXTRAS
Music, with use of instrument............................................$25.00
Modern Languages; French, Spanish and Italian, each......................$10.00
Contingent fee...........................................................$ 1.00
TUITION FEES HALF IN ADVANCE
Board can be obtained at the Institute, or in private families, if preferred,
on reasonable terms.
TRUSTEES
C.L. Bennett, President J.W. Johnson, Secretary
James S. Dyer, W.M. A.G. Donoho, Treasurer
J.P. Andrews, J.W. John Hutchins
N.W. McConnell, S.W. W.J. Hale
Monday, October 3rd, 1870
(Gallatin Examiner Print)
Back to Hartsville Lodge #113's Home Page