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In 1733 Henry Price apparently received a commission
in London from the Grand Master of England, Viscount Montague. Upon
returning to Boston, he organized his Provincial Grand Lodge on July 30,
1733; it was known as the St. John’s Grand Lodge. The First Lodge of
that organization, now known as Saint John’s Lodge, was constituted on
August 31, 1733.
In the early 1750s a group of brethren met at the
Green Dragon Tavern and formed a Lodge later known as St. Andrew’s
Lodge. In 1754 they petitioned the Grand Lodge of Scotland for a Charter
and received it on September 4, 1760. A petition was granted by the
Grand Lodge of Scotland on May 30, 1769, to appoint the Most Worshipful
Joseph Warren, Esquire, to be Grand Master of Masons in Boston, New
England and within one hundred miles of the same. This second Grand
Lodge was called the Massachusetts Grand Lodge.
After many meetings and discussions, the two Grand
Lodges united on March 5, 1792 forming the “Grand Lodge of the Most
Ancient and Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons for the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. ”Prior to this time the Massachusetts
Grand Lodge had chartered 30 Lodges and the St. John’s Grand Lodge, 44
Lodges, each was allowed to retain its original Charter and to take
precedence according to seniority. Only eighteen of these Lodges
remained or elected to become part of the united Grand Lodge with
two-thirds of them having been associated with the Massachusetts Grand
Lodge and one-third with St. John'’ Grand Lodge. St. Andrew'’ Lodge did
not join the union and worked independently under its Scottish Charter
until 1809 at which time it too joined. |
