Queens History and Freemasonry / Springfield Gardens Series / Council and Council-Hillside
Part of the Springfield Gardens Lodge series · An institutional history within The Lodges That Built Queens
Main Feature: Nine Lodges, One Living History · Series Overview · Companion: Hillside Lodge
Council Lodge’s independent history is thinly represented in the available research. Its 1963 union with Hillside is clearer: the combined lodge preserved both names, retained No. 894 and later entered Springfield Gardens.
November 10, 2026 · By Brete Murphy
A Richmond Hill Lodge of 1921
Council Lodge was chartered as No. 979 in Richmond Hill on May 4, 1921, according to the author’s compilation of Grand Lodge records.
It belonged to a period of new lodge formation across Queens.
Prosperity had been chartered in 1920. Woodhull organized in Jamaica that January. Dunton’s Masonic Club began its clubhouse campaign later in 1921.
Those institutions had different origins and later relationships.
Their proximity in time does not establish that they were organized for identical reasons.
For Council, the material assembled here does not identify the founders, explain the name or provide a complete sequence of early meeting places.
The gaps should remain visible.
A short history can be more useful than a longer one filled with assumptions.
What the Notices Preserve
One 1929 newspaper item survives in a form that requires particular caution.
Its OCR appears to run Prosperity and Council together, producing a phrase resembling “Prosperity Council Lodge 971.”
That text should not be read as evidence of a combined lodge.
The source image must establish the original names, numbers and column divisions.
Council’s charter number in the supplied Grand Lodge compilation is 979.
A transcription error should not create an institution that the records do not otherwise identify.
A Shared Tyler
A September 1954 death notice describes Frank P. Bennett as Tyler of Queens Village, Council and Rufus King lodges.
The notice establishes a connection among one man and three institutions.
It does not establish that he was a paid professional, that the lodges were small or that they met in the same building.
Those possibilities require other evidence.
The reference is valuable without being stretched: Council remained identifiable in a member’s service record more than thirty years after its charter.
A Richmond Hill Temple Reference
An earlier part of the series research identifies another Council notice.
In March 1925, the Brooklyn Daily Times described Council’s degree team setting out from the Richmond Hill Masonic Temple for a visit to Brooklyn.
That establishes an association with the building.
It does not prove that Council regularly met there or maintained its principal rooms at that address.
The distinction is especially important in a lineage containing several halls and lodges with overlapping neighborhood names.
The building’s history appears in Richmond Hill Masonic Temple: A Lodge Room Upstairs, a Stage Downstairs.
Council’s relationship to that building remains a question for calendars, directories and minutes.
April 29, 1963
On April 29, 1963, Council consolidated with Hillside Lodge No. 894 of Woodhaven.
The combined institution became Council-Hillside Lodge No. 894.
The date and relationship follow the author’s compilation of Grand Lodge records.
Council’s name remained visible in the new title.
Hillside’s older number continued.
This was the earliest dated consolidation identified in the Springfield Gardens lineage assembled for this series.
It preceded the later unions involving Queens Village, Suburban, Prosperity, Woodhull and Dunton.
What Hillside Brought
Hillside had been instituted in 1911 and chartered in 1912.
It had commissioned a temple on Willard Avenue, now 96th Street, and enlarged it after rapid membership growth.
The building supplied a physical setting for the combined lodge’s later history.
Hillside’s independent institutional account appears in Hillside Lodge No. 894: The Woodhaven Lodge That Outgrew Its Temple.
Its property history appears in The Hillside Temple in Woodhaven.
What the Merger Does Not Explain
The consolidation date does not explain the negotiations.
The supplied material does not establish the two memberships, their finances, the condition of Council’s officer line or the terms governing assets and records.
It would therefore be misleading to present a complete financial or demographic explanation for the union.
The result is clearer than the cause.
Two separately operating lodges became one institution.
Their histories continued through Council-Hillside, but neither remained independently active in its former form.
Merger as Institutional Salvage
The series uses “institutional salvage” as an interpretation of consolidation.
The phrase describes a way of continuing when separate operation ends.
Council-Hillside preserved both names and retained one established number.
That visible arrangement connected the new body with its predecessors.
It does not, by itself, establish the disposition of every original charter, honor, record or object.
Those details belong to the merger instrument, lodge minutes and surviving inventories.
The distinction does not diminish the continuity.
It makes clear what kind of continuity is being described: institutional succession rather than two unchanged lodges sharing a new label.
The Temple Changes Hands
Council-Hillside continued using Hillside’s Woodhaven temple after the 1963 union.
Local historian Joel Steven Kuszai dates the building’s sale to Queens Tabernacle to 1986 in “Hillside Temple”.
That date remains attributed to his account until the deed history is examined.
The exact selling entity has not been established in the research presented here.
Nor should the sale automatically be treated as the final meeting date.
A property transfer and an occupant’s departure can occur at different times.
Where Council-Hillside met during its final years remains undocumented in the supplied clippings.
The building’s later church use is established, but the lodge’s complete departure sequence is not.
Into Springfield Gardens
According to the author’s Grand Lodge compilation, Council-Hillside entered Springfield Gardens Lodge No. 1057 on July 22, 1994.
The original record should be checked.
The same month and day appear in the supplied date for the 2013 Jamaica-Queens Village consolidation, creating a reason for comparison rather than a reason to declare either date wrong.
Springfield Gardens’ retrospective history identifies the Council-Hillside union as a major stage following its earlier union with Dunton.
It also remembers an expanded roll of Past Masters and members honored by the Grand Lodge.
That account establishes how the receiving institution understood its inheritance.
The formal documents would provide a fuller account of what was transferred and how.
Council’s Route Through the Lineage
Council’s institutional route was:
Council Lodge No. 979
→ Council-Hillside Lodge No. 894
→ Springfield Gardens Lodge No. 1057
Hillside followed the same later route from the 1963 union onward.
This branch was separate from the sequence that formed Jamaica-Queens Village.
The histories eventually met within Springfield Gardens, not through one continuous succession of mergers under No. 894.
For the complete framework, read Springfield Gardens Lodge No. 1057: Nine Lodges, One Living History.
The continuing lodge now meets in Rockville Centre while retaining its Queens affiliation.
That later setting is explored in Springfield Gardens Lodge No. 1057: A Queens Lodge Outside Queens.
A Thin Record Is Not a Small History
Council’s surviving references are limited in the research assembled here.
That limitation should not become a judgment about the institution’s importance, size or vitality.
Minutes, anniversary publications and annual returns may preserve a much fuller history.
What can already be traced is consequential.
Council began as a separately chartered Richmond Hill lodge.
Its 1963 consolidation with Hillside created an early combined branch in this lineage.
That branch continued for three decades before entering Springfield Gardens.
Council’s number did not survive the first union.
Its name survived until the second.
Its institutional history remains part of the continuing lodge.
Sources and Research Notes
Newspaper references follow the author’s supplied clippings and series research. Direct article URLs were not provided for those items, so publication names and dates are preserved rather than assigned speculative links.
Council Lodge
Grand Lodge of New York records, as compiled by Brete Murphy. Council’s May 4, 1921 charter; April 29, 1963 consolidation with Hillside; and Council-Hillside’s reported July 22, 1994 entry into Springfield Gardens.
“New Masonic Lodge Formed at Jamaica,” Brooklyn Daily Times, January 6, 1921, p. 4. Woodhull context during the same period of lodge formation.
“Dunton Masons Start Building,” Brooklyn Daily Times, October 23, 1921, p. 12. Dunton Masonic Club’s contemporary building campaign.
“Queens Masons Gay at Ball,” Brooklyn Daily Times, November 23, 1929, p. 5. OCR-garbled lodge list. The original image is needed before assigning exact wording to the Council entry.
Frank P. Bennett death notice, Brooklyn Eagle, September 28, 1954, p. 9. Tyler service associated with Queens Village, Council and Rufus King.
Brooklyn Daily Times, March 8, 1925, as identified in the earlier Richmond Hill temple research. Council degree team departing from that temple. Not treated as proof of regular tenancy.
Hillside and Council-Hillside
Joel Steven Kuszai, “Hillside Temple”. Reported 1986 sale and later building use. Ownership and departure details require property and lodge records.
Hillside building and institutional sources assembled in The Hillside Temple in Woodhaven and Hillside Lodge No. 894: The Woodhaven Lodge That Outgrew Its Temple.
Springfield Gardens
Queens Masonic District, history of Springfield Gardens Lodge No. 1057, as supplied in the author’s research. Retrospective consolidation account and recognition of incoming Past Masters and Grand Lodge honorees.
[Grand Lodge connect, Springfield Gardens No. 1057](Groupable
Groupable
Present receiving institution, Rockville Centre setting and Queens affiliation.
A Note on the Evidence
The limited Council record described here is a limitation of the assembled research, not proof that the lodge left few records or had little activity.
The garbled 1929 text is not treated as evidence of a Prosperity-Council merger.
Bennett’s service to three lodges is not used to infer their size, shared premises or his employment terms.
The 1925 Richmond Hill temple reference establishes an association, not a confirmed regular meeting place.
The 1963 consolidation ended separate operation under the earlier lodge identities. Institutional continuity should not be described as though nothing changed.
The 1986 sale date is attributed to Kuszai. It does not independently establish Council-Hillside’s last meeting in the temple.
The July 22, 1994 date follows the supplied Grand Lodge compilation and remains subject to comparison with the original record.
No claim is made that every predecessor charter, minute book or artifact is physically held by Springfield Gardens.
Questions for Further Research
- Who founded Council Lodge?
- Why was the name Council chosen?
- Where did it regularly meet before 1963?
- Did it use the Richmond Hill temple as a tenant?
- What do annual returns show about membership?
- Do minutes or an anniversary history survive?
- What prompted the Council-Hillside consolidation?
- What were the terms governing property, records and membership?
- When did Council-Hillside leave the Woodhaven temple?
- Where did it meet afterward?
- Does the original instrument confirm July 22, 1994?
Research Gateways
The Brooklyn Public Library’s Brooklyn Newsstand provides information about historic newspaper access.
The [NYC Automated City Register Information System](ACRIS Error
ACRIS Error
provides a starting point for recorded property-document research.
The NYC Municipal Archives provides information about historical city records and photographic collections.
These are research gateways, not direct links to the individual clippings or unidentified property records.
Continue the Springfield Gardens Series
The Main Feature
Springfield Gardens Lodge No. 1057: Nine Lodges, One Living History
Place Council-Hillside within the complete consolidation framework.
The Other Half of the 1963 Union
Hillside Lodge No. 894: The Woodhaven Lodge That Outgrew Its Temple
Follow the institution whose number the combined lodge retained.
The Woodhaven Building
The Hillside Temple in Woodhaven
Explore the temple used by Council-Hillside and its later church use.
The Series Overview
Open the Springfield Gardens Lodge series
Find the companion lodge histories, building articles and meeting-place studies.
Another Combined Institution
Jamaica-Queens Village Lodge No. 546: Keeping the 1864 Number
Compare a later merger through which several founding lodge histories entered Springfield Gardens.
The Continuing Lodge
Springfield Gardens Lodge No. 1057: A Queens Lodge Outside Queens
Explore the receiving institution’s present meeting place.
Return to the Springfield Gardens Main Feature · Springfield Gardens Series Overview · Read the Hillside Lodge History
Lodge Histories · Masonic Buildings in Queens · Queens History and Freemasonry
