This page features published articles and selected essays by Brete Murphy on Queens history, Rockaway history, Freemasonry, neighborhood development, and local civic institutions. It is designed as a curated guide to major publications and signature historical writing. Digital PDF links for certain publications will be added as they become available.
Published Elsewhere
Some Men Want Light. Some Just Want a Title
The Square Magazine, October 2026
By Brete Murphy
In this essay for The Square Magazine, Murphy reflects on Albert G. Mackey’s distinction between different kinds of Masons and uses it to examine the inward demands of the Craft. Drawing on Mackey, Wilmshurst, Ward, and Pike, the article considers the degrees not as honors to be acquired, but as disciplines meant to shape the man himself. It explores the temptation to confuse office with attainment, the danger of preserving Masonic forms without pursuing their meaning, and the importance of reading, reflection, and moral labor in the life of the lodge. The piece argues that the deepest divide in Freemasonry lies between those who wish merely to appear Masonic and those willing to be formed by the demands of Masonry.
Digital link coming soon.
Craftsmen Online
By Brete Murphy
In this essay for Craftsmen Online, Murphy reflects on the plain notebook as a tool of order, review, and self-measurement. Beginning with the practical logic of the foreman’s task book and extending through Benjamin Franklin’s habits of daily inspection, the piece explores how written records steady judgment, reduce disorder, and make improvement visible. Framed through both craftsmanship and Masonic symbolism, the article connects Franklin’s method of moral accounting with the discipline of divided time, showing how honest record-keeping remains essential to good work, attention, and personal conduct.
Read it on Craftsmen Online here.
A Temple on the Peninsula: Rockaway Lodge No. 1036 and the Dream of a Year-Round Rockaway
The Rockaway Times
By Brete Murphy
In this article for The Rockaway Times, Murphy examines Rockaway Lodge No. 1036 at a pivotal moment in the peninsula’s development, when Rockaway was becoming not only a famous seasonal resort but also a more permanent civic community. Drawing on lodge history, local geography, and contemporary newspaper accounts, the piece explores the lodge’s attempt to establish a permanent Masonic temple and what that effort reveals about institution-building, neighborhood identity, and the civic ambitions of a changing Rockaway.
Read it in The Rockaway Times here.
America 250 in Astoria
Empire State Mason, Fall 2026
By Brother Brete Murphy with Richard Araya
In this feature for Empire State Mason, Murphy and Araya examine how Advance Service Mizpah Lodge No. 586 in Astoria transformed post-pandemic restoration into a broader effort in civic engagement, local history, and public service. Developed in partnership with the Greater Astoria Historical Society and framed by the America 250 commemoration, the article shows how preservation, public programming, and a Revolutionary-era artifact helped renew the lodge’s relationship with its neighborhood and demonstrate the continuing civic value of the Craft.
Digital PDF link coming soon.
A Temple on the Peninsula: Rockaway Lodge No. 1036 and the Dream of a Year-Round Rockaway
The Rockaway Wave, August 28, 2026
This article explores Rockaway Lodge No. 1036 at a pivotal moment in the peninsula’s history, when Rockaway was evolving from a seasonal destination into a more permanent community. Drawing on lodge history, geography, and local civic development, it considers what the effort to build a Masonic temple reveals about public life, institution-building, and the dream of a year-round Rockaway.
As seen in the Rockaway Wave here.
Selected Essays on This Site
Queens History and Freemasonry
Queens History and Freemasonry
An overview of the relationship between the growth of Queens and the development of its Masonic institutions. This essay examines lodges as neighborhood institutions shaped by migration, civic ambition, public memory, and the changing life of the borough.
History of Masonic Lodges in Queens
A broader historical survey of lodge life across Queens, tracing how Masonic institutions emerged alongside new neighborhoods, transportation corridors, business districts, and civic networks.
A study of how Freemasonry became part of the borough’s cultural and institutional fabric, linking fraternal history to the wider civic development of Queens.
Queens Masonic Lodge Histories
A collection of lodge-specific histories that together present a larger portrait of Freemasonry in Queens through local institutions, leadership, continuity, and neighborhood identity.
A biographical series examining figures whose lives connect Masonic membership with business, civic life, public culture, and the history of Queens neighborhoods.
Lodge and Temple Histories
Advance Service Mizpah Lodge No. 586: A Living Inheritance of Six New York Lodges
A history of continuity and consolidation, tracing how six earlier lodges contributed to the identity and inheritance of the present lodge.
A study of one of Astoria’s important Masonic institutions, with attention to its leadership, development, and place in the civic history of western Queens.
Island City Lodge No. 586 and the Temple That Served the City
An exploration of lodge life in Long Island City and the role of temple buildings as both ritual spaces and visible civic institutions.
Mizpah’s Watchtower in Old Newtown
A local lodge history connecting Mizpah Lodge with the older story of Newtown and Elmhurst, and with the transformation of one of Queens’ oldest communities.
Service Lodge and the Work of Relief
An article focused on Masonic charity, relief, and obligation, showing how one lodge expressed its principles through useful work and service.
Geba Lodge and the Making of Modern Queens
A history of Geba Lodge that places the institution within the making of Elmhurst and Jackson Heights and the broader development of modern Queens.
A lodge history that considers institutional continuity, urban setting, and the wider Masonic culture of New York City.
Queens Neighborhood Histories
A broad historical essay on Flushing, examining settlement, dissent, religious liberty, and its enduring role in American history.
The Flushing Remonstrance: How Queens Helped Write the First Chapter of American Religious Freedom
A focused study of the Flushing Remonstrance as a landmark in the history of religious liberty and a defining contribution of Queens to the American story.
John Bowne and Flushing, Queens
An article on John Bowne and his place in the struggle for religious tolerance in colonial New York.
Early Newtown, Queens: From Mespat to Modern Queens
A study tracing Newtown from its earliest colonial roots to its later transformation within modern Queens.
Francis Doughty and the Lost Colony of Mespat
An account of a fragile early settlement and one of the most overlooked beginnings in Queens history.
A recovery of Astoria’s earlier landscape, institutions, and premodern character before later urban development transformed the neighborhood.
A study of maritime geography, neighborhood formation, and the historical significance of one of western Queens’ most storied landscapes.
Steinway: How a Piano Factory Built a Village in Queens
An industrial and neighborhood history showing how Steinway became both a factory complex and a community-building project.
An article on the civic and political creation of Long Island City and its importance in the history of western Queens.
Hunter’s Point: The Vanished Hill That Became Long Island City’s Gateway
A neighborhood history exploring landscape, transportation, and urban transformation
Dutch Kills: The Creek, Mills, and Farms Beneath Modern Long Island City
A study of the waterways and working landscapes that shaped the area before modern development.
Ravenswood: The Lost Estates and Industrial Shoreline of Western Queens
An essay reconstructing the layered history of Ravenswood through estates, industry, and waterfront change.
Blissville: The Forgotten Village Along Newtown Creek
A local history of one of Queens’ lesser-known communities and its relationship to geography and industry.
Middletown and the German Settlement: A Lost Rural Community in Long Island City
A history of a vanished German rural settlement later absorbed into the changing landscape of western Queens.
Maspeth and English Kills: Newtown’s Early Colonial Frontier
An exploration of waterways, settlement, and frontier conditions in early colonial Queens.
Far Rockaway: A Queens History Hub
A central overview gathering research and writing on the history of Far Rockaway.
An examination of the earlier landscape and conditions that preceded the formation of Far Rockaway as a recognizable community.
The Cornell Family and the First House in Rockaway
An essay using one family and one house to explore the earliest layers of Rockaway settlement.
A reconstruction of the island’s earlier history before its later identification with incarceration.
Freemasonry and Interpretation
What Freemasonry Is: From Anderson’s Constitutions to the Symbolic and Observant Lodge
A historical and interpretive introduction to Freemasonry, tracing key ideas, principles, and forms of lodge life.
Why Masons Talk in Stones, Tools, and Symbols: A Personal Introduction
An accessible essay on the symbolic language of Freemasonry and the moral meanings expressed through its working tools and images.
Some Men Want Light. Some Just Want a Title.
A reflective essay on motive, seriousness, education, and the difference between outward rank and inward pursuit in Masonic life.
Secret Societies, Fraternal Orders, and Esoteric Traditions in Queens
A wider essay placing Freemasonry within the broader history of fraternal and esoteric associations in Queens.
Biographical Essays
Brother John Anderson Leach of Advance Lodge No. 635
A biographical essay using the life of John Anderson Leach to explore character, civic identity, and the moral culture of lodge life.
A study of a notable Astoria figure whose life reflects the overlap of family, public life, and fraternal affiliation.
Brother Frederick T. Hallett: The Measure of an Astorian
A portrait of Frederick T. Hallett as a representative figure in Astoria’s civic and Masonic world.
Don Rickles, Freemasonry, and Geba Lodge No. 954 in Jackson Heights
An exploration of an unexpected connection between a well-known public figure and a Queens lodge, reflecting on local memory and the cultural reach of Freemasonry.
Explore More
For additional essays, neighborhood histories, and ongoing research, visit the Queens History Blog.