SDElkPoint3
ELK POINT LODGE #3
Precedence Date: 1870
Charter Date: 06/07/1871
Dakota GL Charter Date: 06/22/1875
Location: Elk Point, SD
Chartering Grand Master: Grand Lodge of Iowa, as Elk Point #288
Current Status: Active
NOTES
From "The First 100 Years of the Grand Lodge A.F. & A.M. of South Dakota, 1875-1975", Page 6:
The Grand lodge of Iowa issued a dispensation to a group of Masons at Elk Point, Dakota Territory, in 1870 for a lodge. Brther H. H. Blair was to be the Worshipful Master, Brother Elias Hyde, the Senior Warden, and E. Webb, the Junior Warden. A charter was issued June 7, 1871, to Elk Point Lodge No. 288.
By 1873 there were three Iowa chartered lodges working in the area and more were to come, but by now interest was increasing for a Grand Lodge of Dakota.
At a regular meeting of Elk Point Lodge heId on Saturday evening, April 12, 1873, the minutes disclose,
A communication from St. John's Lodge No. 166, Yankton, Dakota Territory, was received, informing this lodge that a committee had been appointed by St. John's Lodge to confer with other lodges in Dakota Territory in regard to forming a Grand Lodge and requesting this lodge to appoint a like committee. A committee of five was appointed, and the Secretary was instructed to inform St. John's Lodge of this action.
Apparently nothing came of this action because the July 25, 1874, minutes reveal the following: "Communication from Sioux Falls Lodge (Minnehaha) enclosing a petition to the Grand Lodge of Iowa for organizing Grand Lodge in Dakota." The communication was received and a committee of three was appointed to confer with committees from other lodges in the Territory.
Again nothing seems to have come from this latest interest in forming a Grand Lodge of Dakota, but the momentum was increasing because the March 2, 1875, minutes of the lodge show, "On motion the Lodge elected three delegates to attend in convention with other lodges in the Territory for the purpose of forming a Grand Lodge in Dakota Territory."
The minutes reveal no further information about the convention. It must be assumed that this was the convention that was called by Brother H. H. Blair to meet in Elk Point on June 22, 1875, for the purpose of forming a Grand Lodge for Dakota.
A special meeting of the Elk Point Lodge was held on June 21, 1875, to install a slate of newly elected officers. Still no mention of the convention that was called for the following day.
For some unknown reason, the important part played by Brother H. H. Blair and the Elk Point Lodge, with reference to the formation of the Grand Lodge of Dakota, is not mentioned in their minutes, except the double page that is left blank. We can only surmise that this was intended for the minutes that were never written.
GRAND MASTERS
- Henry H. Blair Raised in Wisconsin 1862; Charter Member 1871
