History
Timeline of the 45th Parallel Lodge #581
October 27th 1949 The Lewiston area members of Atlanta lodge 516 met at the Albert twp hall to make plans to reopen a masonic lodge in Lewiston. Royce Mowery, Carl Allen and Josiah Miller we're voted to lead the charge. 20 members pledge 5 dollars each (49 dollars in 2015 money)
October 29th a petition was sent to the Michigan Grand Lodge to get permission to open the lodge in Lewiston.
While the Lewiston area members wait to hear back from Grand Lodge they met several times to prepare for opening the lodge
In the first week of December 1949 they received word from the Michigan grand lodge that they could open a lodge in Lewiston if they could prove they were ready. A testing date was set for December 12th 1949.
On December 12th at 4pm the future members of Lewiston lodge met in Atlanta to be tested. At 6:30pm they broke for a “fine chicken dinner” at the Mowery Hotel. Testing resumed and “continued until finished at a late hour”
December 28th a letter arrived from the Grand master of the state of Michigan (Huge Johnston) that they had passed with flying colors and had to go ahead to open a Lodge in Lewiston
Through the early part of 1950 the new lodge met in Atlanta as they worked out all the details for the new lodge. One interesting detail from the January 5th 1950 meeting, I quote “It was decided by vote that the lodge would serve dinners at regular meeting with all wives invited, the price of 50 cents per person was agreed on to cover costs” That works out to 5 dollars in 2015 money.
On April 5th 1950 they started meeting regularly at the Lewiston Town Hall as a temporary home.
During the rest of 1950 and the start of 1951 they met and worked towards getting things in place to purchase and open at our current location.
On May 9th 1951 they held their first meeting in out current building
On April 26th 1952 a formal dedication was held to commemorate the opening of the lodge in Lewiston. A flag raising ceremony started at 5pm with the children of the Lewiston school assisting. The officers from the Michigan grand lodge were present along with many other guest from around the area and state. A banquet dinner was served at 6pm and served over 150 guests. Lodge was opened following dinner with Ida Updegraff acting as organist and the Lewiston Congregational church choir performing. Proceedings ended at 10:30pm
May 9th 2021 was our 70th anniversary of meeting at our current building.