The Grand Lodge of New York (officially, the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York) is the largest and oldest independent organization of Freemasons in the U.S. state of New York. It was at one time the largest grand lodge in the world in terms of membership. The Grand Lodge of New York was founded December 15, 1782 and it acts as the coordinating body for many Masonic functions undertaken throughout the state. Its various committees organize the Masonic Home in Utica, the Livingston Masonic Library and various charitable events around New York State. The Grand Lodge of New York has jurisdiction over approximately 60,000 Freemasons, organized in more than 800 Lodges, most of them located within New York State.

History

Colonial and federalist eras: 1730–1820

It is not known when the first Freemason set foot in the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

colony of New York, but the first documented presence dates from the mid-1730s, when Daniel Coxe Jr. (1673–1739), was appointed by the Duke of Norfolk, the Grand Master of the Premier Grand Lodge of England (known to historians as the "Moderns"), to act as a Provincial Grand Master for the provinces of New York,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...

, and

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. No authenticated records exist of his tenure as Provincial Grand Master, and he he died a few years after his appointment. Thus, it seems doubtful that he exercised any authority in Masonic endeavors. From 1738 to the 1780s, additional Warrants were issued by the GLE (Moderns) to Francis Goelet (1738–1753), to George Harrison (1753–1771) and to Sir John Johnson (1771–1783). As Johnson was a supporter of the British during the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

, he is believed to have taken his warrant with him when he fled to Canada, thus leaving the Moderns Lodges without a Provincial Grand Master.Bicentennial Commemorative Volume of Holland Lodge No. 8, published by the Lodge, New York, 1988. pp 9-12 To further complicate matters, by the 1750s, the Antient Grand Lodge of England (known to historians as the "Ancients"), a rival Masonic Grand Lodge, had also created a Provincial Grand Lodge of New York, which subsequently chartered lodges under its own jurisdiction. Additional lodges were chartered in New York by the

Grand Lodge of Scotland The Grand Lodge of Antient Free and Accepted Masons of Scotland is the governing body of Freemasonry in Scotland. It was founded in 1736. About one third of Scotland's lodges were represented at the foundation meeting of the Grand Lodge. Hist ...

and the

Grand Lodge of Ireland The Grand Lodge of Ireland is the second most senior Grand Lodge of Freemasons in the world, and the oldest in continuous existence. Since no specific record of its foundation exists, 1725 is the year celebrated in Grand Lodge anniversaries, a ...

. The Ancients retained their charter throughout the Revolution, however, and it was based upon this charter that an independent Grand Lodge of New York was created in 1781, with Robert R. Livingston as Grand Master. The Grand Lodge of New York was officially organized on December 15, 1782, under the Provincial Grand Warrant dated September 5, 1781, from the “Athol” or Antient Grand Lodge of England. The Grand Lodge declared its independence and assumed its modern title “Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York” on June 6, 1787. While the "Athol" Charter descended from the "Ancients", Livingston himself was a member of a "Modern" Lodge. Thus the two rival Grand Lodge traditions, which in England did not unite until 1813, had already merged before that in New York State.

Grand Lodge Building

Early Masonic meetings and meetings of the Grand Lodge were likely held at taverns as well as an early iteration of

Tammany Hall Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society. It became the main loc ...

. On June 24, 1826 the cornerstone was laid for a Gothic style Masonic Hall on Broadway in lower Manhattan between Reade and Pearl Streets, directly across from the original site of the New York Hospital. This would serve as the home of the Grand Lodge until it the building was demolished in 1856. Due to infighting in the Grand Lodge, the Panic of 1857, and the Civil War, it would not be until the 1870s, that the Grand Lodge would again have a permanent meeting location. In 1870, the cornerstone was laid for a new Second French Empire Style building which served as the headquarters of the Grand Lodge from 1875 to 1911. This 1875 Grand Lodge building was designed by Napoleon LeBrun and due to the Panic of 1873 it would take five years to complete, at the staggering cost of $1.279 million dollars. By the turn of the 20th Century, the Second Empire style was already considered outdated and coupled with rising NYC real estate prices, the 1875 temple was replaced with the current more modern skyscraper. The current Grand Lodge building is located at 23rd Street and 6th Avenue and was built in 1911, on the same site as the 1875 Grand Lodge Building.

Other Lodge Buildings in Manhattan

Although today all Grand Lodge of New York lodges in Manhattan meet at the Grand Lodge Building, this was not always the case and is likely a consequence of the high property taxes in New York City. One former Masonic lodge building at 15th Street, home to a number of German-speaking Masonic lodges, is now in use by Friend's Seminar

In addition the Prince Hall Masonic Temple (Manhattan), Prince Hall Masonic Temple located at 155th Street first served as the Masonic Temple for the William McKinley Lodge.

Noteworthy Lodges

St. John's Lodge, chartered in 1757, is the oldest operating Lodge under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of New York. St. John's Lodge is the custodian of what is now known as the

George Washington Inaugural Bible The George Washington Inaugural Bible is the Bible that was sworn upon by George Washington when he took office as the first President of the United States on April 30, 1789. The Bible has subsequently been used in the inauguration ceremonies of ...

. On April 30, 1789, it was upon this Bible that George Washington took his oath of office as the first

president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...

. In 2009, the Lodge formed a registered public charity for the purpose of preserving, maintaining and restoring the

. In 2014, the St. John's Lodge No. 1 Foundation, Inc. received recognition as an IRS 501(c)3. Holland Lodge No. 8 was founded in 1787 and originally conducted ritual in the Dutch language. It is the largest lodge by membership currently in the Grand Lodge of New York, and was the lodge in which Franklin Delano Roosevelt took his Masonic degrees.

Community and charity

The Grand Lodge of New York has a long history of supporting charitable causes. Among the organizations that are rooted in its charitable endeavors are, the Masonic Medical Research Institute, Acacia Village and Masonic Home in Utica; the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Library and

Museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...

in New York and Utica; the Masonic Youth Camp at Camp Turk in Woodgate; the

DeWint House The DeWint House, in Tappan, New York, is one of the oldest surviving structures in Rockland County and is an outstanding example of Hudson Valley Dutch Colonial architecture. It was built using brick and indigenous stone in 1700 by Daniel DeC ...

at Tappan and its many charitable activities of its annual Brotherhood Fund Drive. The Grand Lodge sponsors drug and alcohol awareness programs in schools, and gives thousands of dollars a day to worthy charities around the State. The Masonic youth group Organization of Triangles, Inc., was founded in New York in 1925.

Racial and Religious Equality

Since 2001, the Grand Lodge of New York has had mutual recognition with the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of New York. In May 2012, at its Grand Lodge Session, Grand Lodge of New York approved the findings of a Special Committee which has determined that certain Grand Lodges, notably those following the

Swedish Rite The Swedish Rite is a variation or Rite of Freemasonry that is common in Scandinavian countries and to a limited extent in Germany. It is different from other branches of Freemasonry in that, rather than having the three self-contained foundat ...

, restrict their membership to members of the Christian faith. As a consequence of this, the members of the Grand Lodge of New York voted unanimously that non-Christian Masons living in these Grand Jurisdictions would not come under the exclusivity enjoyed by said Grand Lodges. A notice was sent out to all Grand Lodges with which the Grand Lodge of New York is in amity, that the Grand Lodge of New York will recognize as Regular any Lodges opened up in these territories by any other regular Grand Lodge.

Grand Masters

The current Grand Master is Richard Kessler. *1781-1783 William Walter *1783-1784 William Cock *1784-1800 Robert R. Livingston *1801-1805 Jacob Morton *1806-1819 DeWitt Clinton *1820-1821

Daniel D. Tompkins Daniel D. Tompkins (June 21, 1774 – June 11, 1825) was an American politician. He was the fifth governor of New York from 1807 to 1817, and the sixth vice president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. Born in Scarsdale, New York, Tompkins ...

*1822-1824 Joseph Enos *1825-1829

Stephen Van Rensselaer Stephen Van Rensselaer III (; November 1, 1764January 26, 1839) was an American landowner, businessman, militia officer, and politician. A graduate of Harvard College, at age 21, Van Rensselaer took control of Rensselaerswyck, his family's mano ...

*1830-1843 Morgan Lewis *1844-1845 Alexander H. Robertson *1846-1849 John D. Willard *1850 William H. Milnor *1850 Henry S. Atwood *1851 Oscar Coles *1852 Nelson Randall *1853 Reuben H. Walworth *1854-1855 Joseph D. Evans *1856-1859 John L. Lewis Jr. *1860 John W. Simons *1861 Finlay M. King *1862 John J. Crane *1863-1864 Clinton F. Paige *1865-1866 Robert D. Holmes *1867 Stephen H. Johnson *1868-1869 James Gibson *1870-1871 John H. Anthon *1872-1873 Christopher G. Fox *1874-1875 Ellwood E. Thorne *1876 James W. Husted *1877 Joseph J. Couch *1878 Edmund L. Judson *1879 Charles Roome *1880 Jesse B. Anthony *1881 Horace S. Taylor *1882 Benjamin Flagler *1883 J. Edward Simmons *1884 William A. Brodie *1885-1888 Frank R. Lawrence *1889-1890 John W. Voorman *1891 William Sherer *1892 James Ten Eyck *1893 Frederick A. Burnham *1894 John Hodge *1895-1896 John Stewart *1897-1898 William A. Sutherland *1899 Wright D. Pownall *1900-1901 Charles W. Mead *1902-1902 Elbert Crandall *1904-1905 Frank H. Robinson *1906-1907 Townsend Scudder *1908-1909 S. Nelson Sawyer *1910-1911 R. Jodson Kenworthy *1912-1913 Charles Smith *1914-1915 George Freifeld *1916-1917 Thomas Penney *1918-1919 William S. Farmer *1920-1921 Robert H. Robinson *1922-1923 Arthur S. Tompkins *1924-1925 William A. Rowan *1926-1927 Harold J. Richardson *1928-1929 John A. Dutton *1930-1931 Charles H. Johnson *1932-1933 Chris C. Mollenhauer *1934-1935 Robert Elliott Owens *1936-1937 Jacob Charles Klinck *1938-1939 Dana B. Hellings *1940-1941 Henry C. Turner *1942-1943 William Frederick Strang *1944-1945 Charles W. Froessel *1946-1947 Gay H. Brown *1948-1949 Frank M. Totton *1950-1951 Richard A. Rowlands *1952-1953 Ward B. Arbury *1954-1955 Raymond C. Ellis *1956-1957 Nathan Turk *1958-1959 H. Lloyd Jones *1960-1961 Carl W. Peterson *1962-1963 Harry Ostrov *1964-1965 Clarence J. Henry *1966-1967 Frank C. Staples *1968-1969 Charles F. Gosnell *1970-1971 William R. Knapp *1972-1973 Lloyd S. Cochran *1974-1975 Arthur Markewich *1976-1977 Albert W. Schneider *1978-1979 William R. Punt *1980-1981 Bruce Widger *1982-1983 Ernest Leonardi *1984-1985 Calvin G. Bond *1986-1987 Robert C. Singer *1988-1989 Roswell T. Swits *1990-1991 Richard P. Thomas *1992 Sheldon K. Blank *1993-1994 Gary A. Henningsen *1995-1997 Earle J. Hino Jr. *1998-1999 Stewart C. McCloud *2000-2001 Carl J. Smith *2002-2003 Carl J. Fitje *2004-2005 Edward R. Trosin *2006-2008 Neal I. Bidnick *2008-2009 Edward G. Gilbert *2010-2011 Vincent Libone *2012-2013 James E. Sullivan *2014-2015 William J. Thomas *2016-2018 Jeffery M. Williamson *2018-2021 William M. Sardone *2021-2023 Richard J. Kessler

Notes

External links

The Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of New York

Masonic Medical Research Institute

Masonic Care Community of New York

The Chancellor Robert R Livingston Masonic Library of New York
{{Authority control Grand Lodge of New York New York Freemasonry in the United States 23rd Street (Manhattan)