Queens History and Freemasonry / Active Lodges of Queens / Anchor-Astoria Series
Part 1 of the Anchor-Astoria Lodge series · An active-lodge history within The Lodges That Built Queens
Series Overview · Next: The College Point Temple
A College Point lodge that once needed help from its Flushing neighbors became part of a larger institution. Today, Anchor-Astoria’s meeting place brings together active lodges whose histories reach across Queens and beyond.
November 10, 2026 · By Brete Murphy
A Hundred Years Later, the Same Institute
On June 12, 1973, the members of Anchor Lodge No. 729 held their 1,998th stated communication at the Poppenhusen Institute.
It was a deliberate homecoming.
The lodge’s own tradition placed its first meetings in the Institute, a building established in 1868 as a free adult evening school. A century later, the members returned to the place where they believed their history had begun.
The anniversary week had opened with a dinner dance at Terrace on the Park, remembered by the lodge as sold out. A rededication service followed at the First Reformed Church of College Point.
But the Institute meeting gave the celebration its historical shape.
It joined the lodge’s present work to a remembered beginning.
The distinction matters: the centennial meeting is recorded in the lodge’s history. The earliest meeting place remains a tradition that the same account explicitly describes as having passed “from mouth to ear.”
That instinct—to remember a beginning and carry it forward—runs through the history of Anchor-Astoria Lodge No. 729.
The active lodge in College Point now joins the histories of two founding institutions and a later consolidation line extending through four more.
Poppenhusen’s College Point
Anchor’s beginnings belonged to a College Point closely associated with Conrad Poppenhusen and the industrial community around his rubber works.
The lodge’s [published history](connect | Anchor-Astoria #0729
connect | Anchor-Astoria #0729
names Aaron Morley, John Sanderson, William Booth, Philip Rottmann, George Gilette, and Ernest and Richard Lutters among the men prominent in its formation.
It describes them as participants in the political, social and civic life of the old town.
The first recorded meeting under dispensation took place on November 26, 1872.
The Grand Lodge granted a charter in May 1873. On June 11, the district deputy formally instituted Anchor Lodge with twenty-three members.
These were separate stages: temporary authority to work, the charter grant, and formal institution.
What the Lodge Remembers
The history does not identify the first meeting place from a surviving contemporary entry.
Instead, it preserves the Poppenhusen Institute tradition.
It associates both Anchor and Marvin Lodge of Odd Fellows with the building before their growth led them to seek other quarters.
The account also credits Poppenhusen, whom it describes as a Mason belonging to another jurisdiction, with moral and financial assistance to the new lodge.
Its statements about the Institute’s educational work, village-government use and kindergarten belong to the same retrospective account.
Those details have not been independently checked against the Institute’s records for this article.
The tradition remains important without being presented as something more secure than it is.
Why an Anchor?
The lodge’s history suggests that churchmen among the founders chose the name.
It connects the anchor with hope and steadfastness, with the Epistle to the Hebrews, and with early Christian funerary symbolism.
That is an interpretation of the name, not a surviving account of the founders’ discussion.
It nevertheless reveals how a later generation understood the institution: as something intended to hold firm through difficult conditions.
Help from Flushing
Anchor did not have an easy beginning.
Its modern history quotes a Golden Jubilee booklet recalling periods when members feared “total collapse.”
Cornucopia Lodge No. 563 of Flushing came to their aid.
The passage names Brothers Rasquin, Kirkman and Lewry among the visitors who regularly attended on Tuesday nights, encouraged the members and helped the lodge continue its work.
The account describes practical fraternal support. It does not supply a complete record of financial assistance or establish precisely when every visit occurred.
The Golden Jubilee booklet itself has not been examined for this article. A fiftieth anniversary counted from 1873 would fall around 1923, but that publication date remains inferred.
Cornucopia’s Side of the Relationship
Cornucopia remembered a connection as well.
Its 1940 anniversary program counted former members among the founders and leaders of Anchor, Whitestone and Bayside lodges.
The two accounts are related but not identical.
One describes help during Anchor’s difficult years. The other records members’ roles in the development of neighboring institutions.
Neither requires treating Anchor as a formal subsidiary of Cornucopia.
The later relationship gives this early assistance an unexpected echo.
Cornucopia no longer owns its former Flushing temple. It now meets at the Anchor-Astoria temple in College Point, according to the author’s confirmation.
The lodge that once received visitors from Flushing now shares a meeting place with their institutional successors.
Read Cornucopia Lodge No. 563: Borrowed Aprons and the Making of Flushing.
Thirteen Men from Grand Avenue
The other half of Anchor-Astoria began across the borough.
In the spring of 1918, thirteen Master Masons agreed to leave their mother lodge and organize another.
The published history names them:
- Albert Barge.
- Rudolph Boenke.
- Frank Elwanger.
- Edward A. Hertberg.
- Charles Nauber.
- William N. Platz Sr.
- James Prowse Sr.
- Augustus Rusa Sr.
- Joseph M. Scherer.
- Henry Sendele.
- Harry G. Sims.
- Jacob Stockinger Jr.
- Chapman E. Strong.
The history does not name their mother lodge.
The author’s related Advance and Prowse research points toward Advance Lodge No. 635 as the probable source. That identification should remain qualified until membership and organizing records establish it directly.
The first regular meeting under dispensation took place on June 27, 1919, at the Masonic Temple at 114 Grand Avenue, Long Island City.
The author identifies that address as Advance’s temple, now 21-14 30th Avenue.
District Deputy Grand Master Edward J. Smith presented the dispensation and installed the officers.
Smith was Tadmor Lodge No. 923’s first Master, another connection among institutions that were organizing and expanding across Queens.
On June 2, 1920, Grand Master Robert H. Robinson constituted Astoria Lodge No. 963. The lodge’s history places attendance at approximately 400 Masons.
Organizing in 1918, beginning regular work in 1919 and constitution in 1920 were different milestones in the lodge’s formation.
For Smith’s Ridgewood institution, read Tadmor Lodge No. 923: A Monument in the Making of Ridgewood.
The Prowse Connection
The Prowse family supplies a more personal link between Advance and Astoria.
James Prowse Sr. donated the cornerstone of Advance’s new temple in 1915.
The author’s Prowse research also identifies his son as having been raised in Advance before becoming a charter member of Astoria.
In 1926, James Prowse Jr. became Astoria’s Master.
At his banquet, his father—by then a Past Master himself—rose to speak.
The scene connected two generations and two lodge histories.
The elder Prowse had contributed to the building in which the new lodge began meeting. The younger Prowse was now leading that institution.
The relationship is strong evidence of continuity through individuals. It does not, by itself, establish the affiliation of every founder.
For the wider Advance lineage, begin One Lodge, Six Charters.
The Hard Years
On April 19, 1926, the Queens Masonic District was divided.
Anchor and Astoria were both placed in the First Queens Masonic District.
The Depression followed only a few years later.
Astoria’s retrospective history describes 1930–1937 as a period of membership losses and financial strain.
It records a move to Castle Hall on 31st Avenue.
That move should not automatically be read as the loss of a building Astoria owned. The account establishes a change of meeting place, not the ownership arrangements surrounding it.
Castle Hall
The author’s research identifies Castle Hall as the building at 37-09 31st Avenue.
The same research places King David Lodge No. 994 there from October 29, 1934.
For a time, two Astoria lodges therefore used the same address.
Research assembled for the related King David history also traces the building’s later use by the Basilian Fathers and Holy Cross Ukrainian Catholic Church, followed by Casa Galicia.
The precise sequence of occupants, floor arrangements and ownership belongs to a separate building history.
For Astoria Lodge, the essential point is more immediate: it continued working by finding another place to meet.
War, Recovery and Anniversaries
Astoria’s history counts sixty-five members in the armed forces during the Second World War.
It records civilian-defense activity, support for war bonds and contributions to the Masonic War Chest.
A membership revival followed the war.
The account gives no annual figures for that recovery, but its anniversary calendar shows a lodge continuing to assemble publicly.
On May 23, 1959, Astoria celebrated its fortieth anniversary with a dinner and dance at Riccardo’s Restaurant.
In 1970, its fiftieth-anniversary observances included a May 24 rededication service at Astoria Presbyterian Church and an October 24 dinner and dance at Riccardo’s.
The different anniversary calculations reflect the lodge’s 1919 beginnings and 1920 constitution.
In 1964, members of both Anchor and Astoria participated in fundraising for the Masonic Brotherhood Center at the World’s Fair in Flushing.
Their histories were still separate, but their district affiliations and borough-wide activities already overlapped.
December 1, 1985
Anchor Lodge No. 729 and Astoria Lodge No. 963 united on December 1, 1985.
Anchor brought 265 members to the merger; Astoria brought 123.
The published history gives the combined membership as 388.
The new lodge kept Anchor’s number and seniority while preserving both names: Anchor-Astoria Lodge No. 729.
The union joined institutions associated with different neighborhoods, but not strangers.
They shared the old First Queens District, participated in wider Masonic projects and had each sustained a charter through the century’s disruptions.
The surviving account does not provide the merger negotiations, financial calculations or members’ debates.
It would be too simple to assign the decision to a single cause.
What it establishes is the result: two memberships became one lodge, carrying both identities into College Point.
A Place Other Lodges Meet
Anchor-Astoria remains active.
It meets at the Anchor-Astoria Masonic Temple, 18-14 College Point Boulevard.
The three-story building combines commercial premises at street level with Masonic use above.
A StreetEasy property listing gives a construction date of 1929.
That date remains a property-database attribution, not a confirmed construction history.
No record examined for this series establishes whether Anchor commissioned the building, purchased it afterward or first occupied it under another arrangement.
Its history is treated in Anchor-Astoria Masonic Temple: A Working Home in College Point.
Sharing a Building Is Not the Same as Merging
According to the author’s November 2026 confirmation, Cornucopia Lodge No. 563, Harmony Lodge No. 241 and Francis Lewis Lodge No. 273 also meet at the College Point temple.
They remain distinct institutions.
Their use of the same building does not place their entire lineages inside Anchor-Astoria.
That distinction matters in a building where several histories meet.
Cornucopia brings its Flushing past. Harmony and Francis Lewis carry separate consolidation histories reaching other parts of Queens and beyond.
The temple is a shared meeting place, not evidence that every lodge using it has merged.
The Queensboro Inheritance
A different relationship began on April 13, 2024.
According to the supplied consolidation research, Queensboro Lodge No. 892 merged into Anchor-Astoria.
Queensboro itself carried the lineages of four earlier lodges:
- Richmond Hill Lodge No. 892.
- Wakefield Lodge No. 1110.
- Granite Lodge No. 1011.
- Cathedral Lodge No. 1031.
With Anchor and Astoria, those form six separately founded lodge histories within the consolidation line described here.
Granite also connects the story back to Tadmor: men from Tadmor helped organize it in Ridgewood.
The sequence is traced in Richmond Hill Lodge No. 892: The Lineage That Reached College Point.
The merger date follows the author’s research packet. The formal consolidation instrument would strengthen the published documentary record.
From Receiving Help to Sharing a Home
Anchor began as a small lodge whose earliest meeting place survives in tradition rather than a contemporary location entry.
Its history remembers visitors from Flushing helping it through difficult years.
Astoria began through another set of departures, borrowed rooms and personal connections. The Prowses carried a relationship between the new lodge and Advance; Edward J. Smith connected its first meetings with the wider Queens district.
In 1985, the two institutions became one.
Today, their combined lodge continues in College Point, sharing a temple with active neighbors and carrying an additional lineage through Queensboro.
The homecoming at the Poppenhusen Institute in 1973 looked backward to a remembered beginning.
The work on College Point Boulevard carries that instinct forward.
Continuity here does not mean that every lodge kept its old name, its old building or its original neighborhood.
It means that people continued meeting—and found ways to bring their histories with them.
Sources and Research Notes
The Principal Lodge History
- [Anchor-Astoria Lodge No. 729, “History”](connect | Anchor-Astoria #0729
connect | Anchor-Astoria #0729
published on the Grand Lodge connect site. Principal source for Anchor’s beginnings, the Poppenhusen tradition, the 1973 centennial, Astoria’s founders, the June 27, 1919 meeting, the June 2, 1920 constitution, district division, Depression-era move, wartime activity, anniversaries and the 1985 merger.
Internal references in that history describe Anchor as 125 years old, suggesting composition around 1998. The page is a retrospective account, not a contemporary source for every event it describes.
Anchor Lodge Golden Jubilee booklet, quoted in the later history. Source for Cornucopia’s assistance and the Tuesday-night visitors. The booklet itself has not been examined. A publication date around 1923 is inferred from the 1873 institution.
Cornucopia and College Point
Cornucopia Lodge No. 563, 1940 anniversary program, p. 19. Former members’ connections with Anchor and other neighboring lodges.
Brete Murphy, confirmation supplied November 2026. Anchor-Astoria’s active status and College Point meeting place; Cornucopia, Harmony and Francis Lewis meeting at the same temple.
Advance, Astoria and the Prowses
Henry Martin, “Historical Data of Advance Lodge,” cornerstone address, November 20, 1915. James Prowse Sr.’s cornerstone gift.
James Prowse research packet and 1926 Astoria banquet coverage supplied by the author. Prowse Jr.’s Advance affiliation, Astoria charter membership and service as Master; his father’s banquet appearance.
Brete Murphy, Advance Service Mizpah research. Identification of the historical Grand Avenue temple address with the present Advance Masonic Temple at 21-14 30th Avenue.
Kings County Chronicle, January 22, 1957; Daily News, January 21, 1957. Edward J. Smith’s Tadmor and district roles.
Castle Hall
Anchor-Astoria lodge history. Astoria’s move to Castle Hall on 31st Avenue during the Depression.
Brete Murphy’s Castle Hall and King David research notes. Identification of 37-09 31st Avenue, King David’s meetings from October 29, 1934, and the building’s later religious and cultural uses.
Forgotten New York, Casa Galicia material, as identified in the research notes. The [Forgotten New York website](Forgotten New York
Forgotten New York FNY chronicles unnoticed aspects of the City the tourists never see: painted building ads, abandoned subway stations, out-of-the-way neighborhoods and more.
is provided as a research gateway, not as a direct link to the specific article.
The Temple and Later Consolidation
StreetEasy, 18-14 College Point Boulevard. Three-story commercial building and reported 1929 construction date. The date requires comparison with original building records.
Author’s consolidation research. Queensboro’s April 13, 2024 merger into Anchor-Astoria and the earlier Richmond Hill, Wakefield, Cathedral and Granite sequence.
A Note on Dates and Lineage
Anchor’s first recorded meeting under dispensation was November 26, 1872. Its charter grant in May 1873 and institution on June 11 were separate events.
Astoria’s history gives June 11, 1919, as an institution date in its opening summary, but identifies June 27 as the first regular meeting under dispensation. It records constitution on June 2, 1920. Those stages should not be collapsed into one founding date.
The Poppenhusen Institute beginning is expressly presented as oral tradition in the lodge history.
Advance is treated here as Astoria’s probable mother lodge, based on the author’s crossover research. The published Anchor-Astoria history does not name the mother lodge directly.
The 1985 merger and membership figures are recorded in the published lodge history. The 2024 Queensboro merger follows the supplied consolidation research.
Cornucopia, Harmony and Francis Lewis are identified as separate lodges sharing the temple, not as constituent lineages of Anchor-Astoria.
Ridgewood Lodge No. 710 is not included in this lineage. The author’s corrected Grand Lodge research supersedes an earlier interpretation of the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s 2014 reference to “the Astoria Lodge in College Point.”
No claim is made that every predecessor charter remains separately operative or that all predecessor records are physically held in the College Point building.
Continue the Anchor-Astoria Series
Part 1: The Active Lodge
Anchor-Astoria Lodge No. 729: Two Villages, One Number — You are here.
Part 2: The College Point Building
Anchor-Astoria Masonic Temple: A Working Home in College Point
Explore the shared meeting place and the unanswered questions about its construction and early ownership.
Part 3: The Richmond Hill Lineage
Richmond Hill Lodge No. 892: The Lineage That Reached College Point
Follow the consolidation sequence that formed Queensboro and later entered Anchor-Astoria.
Part 4: The Earlier Temple
Richmond Hill Masonic Temple: A Public Hall, a Private Lodge Room
Discover the building created by one of the predecessor institutions.
Series Overview · Next Article: The College Point Temple
Active Lodges of Queens · The Lodges That Built Queens · Queens History and Freemasonry
