Ritual , Secrecy , and Civil Society
Originally , lodges in Washington such as Federal and Potomac ( of course , both lodges are active to this day ) were organized by petitioning already existing grand lodges , including Pennsylvania , Virginia , and Maryland . The members of these lodges were extremely diverse in their ages , their social status , and their occupations . 30 A good example is Federal , whose members included working men literally hewing the stones from the quarries to create the White House . Like lodges of the period in Scotland , the early lodges in the capitol were composed of a remarkably varied membership , and often of young men .
An instance of this was when Brother Charles Jones 1802 petitioned the Grand Lodge of Maryland to warrant a new lodge , although he was only 19 years old . His recommenders were the Master , Senior and Junior Wardens of Federal Lodge . This became Columbia Lodge No . 3 , now Justice-Columbia . The first meeting place of the Lodge was at Lovell ’ s Hotel , on the north side of Pennsylvania Avenue near 15 th Street . 31 Only two years later in 1804 , Columbia together with Federal Lodge bought land on the west side of 11 th Street just south of Pennsylvania Avenue and erected the first Masonic Temple in the City of Washington , which would also house the Grand Lodge when it was organized . 32
Naval Lodge , warranted by Maryland in 1805 , was located near the Navy Yard gate on Seventh Street . The second floor of a small house was the lodge room , and interestingly the first floor was used as a school that the lodge sponsored , taught by a woman whom the lodge wished to help and who also kept the lodge room in order . As mentioned earlier , more than 200 years later , Naval sponsors school enrichment programs , raising money for Capital Hill schools . 33
Potomac Lodge , after all manners of challenges , had become active again in 1806 . 34 It met at the home of Valentine Reintzel , its master and to be the first Grand Master of the District — and for whom the Grand Lodge award for outstanding service is named . Such was its renewed growth that in 1810 Potomac laid the cornerstone for its own building . It is by far the oldest continuous society in Georgetown .
30 cf . Ann Lipson , D .( 1977 ). Freemasonry in Federalist Connecticut , 1789 – 1835 ( p . 70 ). Princeton : Princeton University Press .
31 Columbia Lodge No . 19 , chartered October 22 , 1795 , met in Georgetown , but suspended operations between December 12 , 1796 and November 12 , 1806 when upon petition of members a new charter from the Grand Lodge of Maryland was issued on the latter date to a renamed Potomac Lodge No . 43 . Harris , 22 – 25 .
32 The building later was occupied by Prince Hall groups , and finally was demolished for the still existing post office .
33 Webb , M . Naval lodge hosts back to school fund fair . The Voice of Freemasonry , 25 ( 3 ), 30 , 32 .
34 “ In 1939 , in commemoration of the sesquicentennial observance of Potomac Lodge , the Grand Lodge of Maryland returned to Potomac Lodge , the charter of April 21 , 1789 , and in doing so , described it as the original charter of Potomac Lodge .” Dean S . Clatterbuck , unpublished paper , “ A Brief History of Potomac Lodge No . 5 , F . A . A . M .”, n . d .
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