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Seminole Lodge No 304 F&AM

 

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

 

Fragments & Recollections of Lodge History

 

PROLOGUE

 It can be said in truth that Seminole Lodge No. 304 was formed Of necessity and that determination and love for its basic principles made it a successful reality. Seminole Lodge - to use a descriptive phrase -is a "splinter lodge" from Doric Lodge No. 140. In 1950 there were only four Masonic Lodges in Broward County. One each in Hollywood Fla., Dania Fla., Ft. Lauderdale Fla., and Pompano Beach Fla. By 1950 Broward County was rapidly becoming- percapita wise -the fastest growing county in the United States, a distinction it eventually achieved in 1957, and Ft. Lauderdale, the largest city within the county.

 

This distinction attracted business both large and small plus innumerable retired families to the good life in the "Sunshine State “, and an astonishingly large pro- portion of these new residents were Master Masons. By 1950 Doric Lodge was conducting upward to 50 Masonic funeral services per year, about 90% of which were for sojourning Master Masons. It was necessary and quite common for shopkeepers, bookkeepers, butchers and whom ever, to leave their shops and offices one or more times each week to honor a deceased Brother at the request of a member of the deceased members family, and this trend continued to increase yearly.

 

Interest in Freemasonry since 1950 has been phenomenal and help was needed so Grand Lodge, in 1951, authorized four new Lodges be set to work under dispensation in Broward County. The 1952 session of Grand Lodge of Florida issued Charters to these four Lodges, one of which was Seminole Lodge No. 304, F & A M. Seminole Lodge will always be grateful to Doric Lodge No. 140 for the encouragement and support they gave to our new Lodge. For several years they gave Seminole Lodge rent-free privileges to use their facility and paraphernalia. A sufficient number of their members signed our application for dispensation to insure Seminole Lodge having lecturers and instructors in order to perform degree work, one of the necessary requirements to obtain a charter.

 

            The success of Seminole Lodge must be credited to our first Master, Worshipful R. A. (Mose) Jarrell, two Wardens Brothers Floyd L. Hamilton and Lawrence E. Rogers, and lesser luminaries with equal enthusiasm.

 

Never again will the old saw "ignorance is bliss" be more appropriate than during those months while under dispensation. All concerned, at one time or another, were heard to say "if I had known what this entailed---". Someone recently said that it was something like the bumblebee. No one bothered to tell the bee he couldn’t fly and so he flew, and so we grew.

 

Eventually Doric Lodge sold their "down town" Temple, located at 100 S.E. 1st. Avenue, Ft. Lauderdale Fla., and moved into a beautiful modern new Temple, located at 700 N.E. 8th. Street, Ft. Lauderdale Fla., and Seminole Lodge moved in with them. By then we had our own paraphernalia and were paying rent for use of their Lodge room and furniture.

 

It became increasingly difficult to maintain our identity while using their facility and fortunately in 1968 Seminole Lodge learned of a Church building for sale. The Church of the Latter Day Saints had outgrown their Church building located at 401 S. E. 15th. Street, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. A committee of five or six members looked at the building one Saturday morning and because of competition from other interested parties, each of the committee put up $300.00 and signed an agreement to purchase that same afternoon.

 

This committee is to be commended for their evaluation and foresight, for without Lodge approval, because of the time element, they committed the Lodge, or themselves, to the agreement. Presently, in 1977, the valuation of this property has increased well over 50 percent.

 

The question has been asked since time immemorial "who will build the Temple”? It is the opinion of many that it is being built today but will never be completed. Our Temple is now sufficient for our Lodge and Appendant Orders but someday, like the Church that originally built it, we too will outgrow it and future Masons - some not yet born - will use the equity of this property to initiate the building of a beautiful new edifice.  We who now strive to build the Temple and meet the mortgage payments will someday become pictures on the wall and names upon the honor roll some where in the Library of that new Temple. Each must do what he can while time permits so that others who follow may continue to build upon it. No, the Temple will never be completed and that is how it shall ever be.

 

The Committee on History