221 History

Fraternal Lodge #221
4227 W Kimberly Rd
Davenport, Iowa

Secretary --- Richard W. Skeppstedt --- 563-323-2501

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Fraternal Lodge #221 meets every Thursday at 7:00PM
Meetings are held in the lodge room at Club MoKan [Mohassan Grotto]
at 4227 W. Kimberly Rd., Davenport, Ia.
Stated Meetings are on the first Thursday of each month.

THE HISTORY OF FRATERNAL LODGE #221

The following information was gleaned from two sources:

Freemasonry in Iowa by Keith Arrington

100 years of Masons in Davenport by Fred Schwengel

Burlington Lodge U.D. at the then capital city of Iowa Territory received a dispensation from the Grand Lodge of Missouri dated November 20, 1840. This marked the beginning of organized Masonry in what is now the State of Iowa. That same year, 1840, Iowa Lodge at Bloomington, which is now known as Muscatine, was also given a dispensation by Missouri. These two lodges were soon joined by two more; Dubuque Lodge and Iowa City Lodge. These four became the nucleus of the Grand Lodge of Iowa.

Iowa Lodge of Muscatine recommended Davenport Lodge to the Grand Lodge of Iowa, which granted dispensation on November 10, 1851. Every lodge established in Davenport since that date has been recommended by Davenport Lodge or one of the other established lodges.

On August 7, 1867 Fraternal Lodge was granted dispensation and the first meeting appears to have been held on Thursday, August 22, 1867 in Masonic Hall on the corner of 3rd and Perry Street.

James T. Lane was appointed W. M. by the then Grand Master, Brother Ruben Mickel of Montezuma. James Torington and Chris Torring were also appointed S.W. and J.W. respectfully. It is assumed that Grand Master Mickel was in attendance since newspaper accounts show he was in Davenport on that date.

The original membership appears to have been 26 members. Records show the annual dues were set at $4.00 plus Grand Lodge dues. The fees for the three degrees were $30.00.

On June 3, 1868 Fraternal Lodge was granted its charter.

Records show that on June 18, 1868 an election of officers was held and Grand Master Mickel was again in attendance. The lodge was duly constituted as Fraternal Lodge no. 221, A.F. & A.M. Meetings were held in the Masonic Hall until November, 1870. A committee was formed to locate more suitable quarters and buy furnishings. On March 2, 1871, third floor of 215 W. 2nd Street was arranged for as their meeting place. At that time the meeting nights were changed from Thursdays to Wednesdays and remained so until recent years when the lodge was moved to its present location. In 1873 Trinity Lodge needed new quarters. They met with Fraternal Lodge and it was agreed that 215 W. 2nd Street would be their new home also.

NOTES OF INTEREST

Fraternal Lodge petitioned to the Grand Lodge of Iowa, requesting to work in German. This was due to the large German population at that time. The Grand Lodge denied the request. Otherwise we could be doing our degree work in German now.

The Charter for Fraternal Lodge was “arrested” for a brief period in 1889.

The reason for this was:

As a result of a misunderstanding, there were strong feelings and beliefs that all Masons were anti-christian. To answer this charge, the Ohio Lodge passed what was to become known as Edict no. 4 in Iowa. This required that all lodge members and lodges subscribe to the Divinity of the Bible and Christ. Fraternal Lodge, having many free thinkers in its membership, hesitated on this, resulting in the arrest of the Charter. After long hours of debate and discussion at a meeting to determine if the lodge would be dissolved or not, the lodge voted to comply with Edict no. 4 and the Charter was restored.

The address of 215 W. 2nd Street is best known to most of us as the Louis Hansen Hardware Store.

Fraternal Lodge has been referred to as the “Cop’s Lodge” due to the large number of police officers who were members at one time.

During 1919 the lodge had 99 petitions for Masonry. (Somewhat of a record)

The first joint installation of officers for the Blue Lodges in Davenport was held in 1885.

The first Masonic Temple was built on the NE corner of 3rd and Main Street. Davenport Lodge held the first meeting in the new building on April 30, 1888. The records show that all Masonic bodies in Davenport then moved into the new building. The building was given over to business enterprises and eventually it was decided that a new facility was needed. On May 3, 1922 the cornerstone for the new Temple was laid on property located at 7th and Brady Streets. The work progressed rapidly and on November 19, 1923 the building was dedicated and Davenport Lodge no. 37 opened a lodge of Master Masons with the attendance of approximately 400 brethren. Grand Master Mile J. Gabriel assumed the East and officers of the four lodges occupied the other stations and conferred the degrees on W. L. Taylor of Trinity Lodge no. 208. The reason noting four other lodges is because Philbrook Lodge did not come into being until 1948.

In 1996 the Temple building was sold to the Palmer Association due to the cost of upkeep and other reasons. The lodges remained renting the lodge rooms while other avenues were explored. The Shrine and Scottish Rite purchased property off of Brady Street at 65th. Roosevelt Lodge purchased a building on Washington Street and converted it into their lodge. The Mohassan Grotto offered land to build on but nothing materialized and eventually they offered to build an addition onto their building to be used as the new lodge room and rent the facilities to the Lodges. On Friday, October 24, 1997, the MWB Ralph Livermore, Grand Master of Iowa Grand Lodge, dedicated the new lodge room. Davenport Lodge, Trinity Lodge and Fraternal Lodge are now using this new room as the lodge room.

Fraternally,

Richard Skeppstedt, PM
Fraternal Lodge no. 221