Queens History and Freemasonry / Springfield Gardens Series / Hillside Lodge No. 894
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: The Hillside Temple
Hillside began with about thirty charter members and reported nearly five hundred by 1920. Its rapid growth forced an enlargement of its young Woodhaven temple—and created a lodge large enough to need name cards at its own dinner.
November 10, 2026 · By Brete Murphy
Thirty Men in Brooklyn Manor
In 1911, the section of Woodhaven north of Jamaica Avenue was developing under the name Brooklyn Manor.
Detached houses were rising along its streets.
Hillside Lodge was instituted under dispensation on May 29 that year.
The Grand Lodge chartered it as No. 894 on May 8, 1912, according to the author’s compilation of Grand Lodge records.
A later newspaper account described approximately thirty charter members.
That figure belongs to the lodge’s early membership history. It should not automatically be treated as a verified attendance count for the first meeting under dispensation.
The first Master was Joseph H. Courtenay of Willard Avenue.
He was later remembered as one of the men most active in securing a lodge for Woodhaven, and he held the chair for two terms.
Hillside gave the developing neighborhood another institution through which residents could meet, take office and establish local connections.
The evidence does not yet provide a complete social profile of those first members.
Building While Growing
Within two years of its institution, Hillside was building a temple.
Members formed a holding company and commissioned Wenige & Nelson.
Arthur E. Wenige was a partner in the architectural firm, a lodge officer and the holding company’s secretary.
Courtenay served as the company’s president.
Construction began in October 1913 on Willard Avenue, now 96th Street, near St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church.
The cornerstone was laid that November.
The building’s full architectural and property history appears in The Hillside Temple in Woodhaven.
For the lodge history, the project reveals how quickly the institution acquired responsibilities beyond regular meetings.
Its members were organizing property ownership, commissioning professional work and raising money for a permanent home.
A Fair with a Larger Workforce
In January 1914, Hillside held a weeklong fair inside the new building.
Contemporary coverage credited the work of 169 women and 100 men.
Those figures describe participation in the fundraising campaign, not the lodge’s membership.
They demonstrate that the project depended on a wider social circle.
The building belonged to a Masonic undertaking, but its support extended beyond the men entitled to sit in the lodge room.
By then, Wenige was Master.
He was presiding over an institution meeting in premises his own firm had designed.
For his related Astoria work, read One Room, Three Lodges: Arthur E. Wenige and the Advance Masonic Temple.
The Men in the Chairs
Hillside’s leadership changed as the institution developed.
John M. Smythe was elected for 1916 and installed at a public ceremony followed by a reception.
The occasion connected the lodge’s internal succession with a social event beyond the formal installation.
In November 1917, the lodge held “Courtenay night.”
Its first Master had been appointed New York’s representative to the Grand Lodge of Nevada.
The newspaper reported visitors from across the state.
Courtenay’s earlier work in establishing the lodge was being recognized in a building he had helped bring into existence.
These notices reveal particular leaders and occasions.
They do not supply a complete list of Masters or establish how every annual transition was conducted.
Nearly Five Hundred by 1920
The membership soon outran the building.
In August 1920, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that Hillside had grown from about thirty charter members to almost five hundred.
The temple, only seven years into its building history, had once been thought “large enough for all time.”
Now remodeling and enlargement were needed.
The announced goal was seating for four hundred when meetings resumed that autumn.
Wenige and Dr. Albert L. Voltz served on the finance committee.
Both had participated in the earlier holding-company arrangements.
Growth Beside a Growing Neighborhood
The membership increase coincided with Brooklyn Manor’s development.
The temple preceded the elevated railway’s 1917 arrival, as described in Joel Steven Kuszai’s “Hillside Temple”.
The lodge continued growing after that transit connection opened.
The chronology supports a relationship between institutional growth and neighborhood expansion.
It does not establish that every new member owned a house in Brooklyn Manor or joined because of a particular transit improvement.
A membership register compared with addresses and occupations would provide a stronger test.
What the newspaper establishes is striking enough: the institution had become much larger within its first decade.
Prosperity Under the Same Roof
Hillside was not the only lodge using its temple.
A May 1920 report described Prosperity Lodge No. 962 being instituted at Woodhaven.
Later district notices place Prosperity at the 96th Street Masonic Temple.
That was shared accommodation, not a merger with Hillside.
The two lodges maintained separate identities.
Their later institutional lines would reach Springfield Gardens by different routes.
Hillside combined with Council.
Prosperity entered the Suburban-Queens Village branch.
The distinction prevents a shared building from being mistaken for a single organizational history.
The complete framework appears in Springfield Gardens Lodge No. 1057: Nine Lodges, One Living History.
A Name Card at the Beefsteak Dinner
In March 1922, more than two hundred Hillside members attended a get-together beefsteak dinner in the temple.
Each received an apron and a card bearing his name.
It is a small detail with institutional meaning.
The lodge had grown beyond the scale at which every member could comfortably assume that everyone knew him.
A name card helped turn a large membership into a room of people who could speak to one another.
The dinner does not establish attendance at regular communications or prove that all members were equally active.
It does show the lodge making a deliberate social occasion out of its size.
The building had needed more seats.
The members also needed ways to recognize one another.
A Quieter Record
The later clippings are less expansive.
They record degree nights, visits, funerals and members’ deaths.
A March 1925 notice describes degree work before a gathering that included Past Masters.
In May 1928, Hillside conducted Masonic services for Harry S. Best, a member killed by a Long Island Rail Road train.
The funeral notice gives the temple address as “8605 96th St.”
That differs from the modern 86-03 address used in the building article.
The variation should be preserved as a historical reference rather than silently treated as proof of a different temple.
An address and parcel comparison would resolve whether it reflects numbering, an entrance designation or an error.
Members Beyond Woodhaven
Other notices place Hillside members in Woodhaven and Ridgewood.
Later obituaries came from Connecticut, Florida and Nassau County.
They establish continued affiliation after relocation.
They do not provide a complete membership trend or explain every later consolidation decision.
Nor does the quieter surviving newspaper record prove that lodge activity had declined at exactly the same rate as coverage.
After the rapid growth documented in 1920, annual returns and minutes are needed to establish what happened numerically.
Council-Hillside No. 894
On April 29, 1963, Council Lodge No. 979 consolidated with Hillside.
The combined institution became Council-Hillside Lodge No. 894, retaining Hillside’s number.
The date and relationship follow the author’s compilation of Grand Lodge records.
Council had been chartered in Richmond Hill in 1921.
Its union with Hillside joined two institutional histories, rather than simply adding an informal group to the Woodhaven membership.
The available material does not yet explain the negotiations, financial arrangements or members’ decisions leading to consolidation.
Those questions belong to the lodge records.
The result is clear: Hillside ceased operating under its separate name, while No. 894 continued in the combined institution.
A Building Changes Use
Council-Hillside continued using the Woodhaven temple after the 1963 consolidation.
Kuszai dates its sale to Queens Tabernacle to 1986.
That date remains attributed to his building history until the deed and selling entity are identified.
The property’s change of use did not coincide with the final institutional merger.
On July 22, 1994, according to the supplied Grand Lodge compilation, Council-Hillside entered Springfield Gardens Lodge No. 1057.
The exact date should be compared with the original instrument, as noted in the series dossier.
Building sale, departure from premises and consolidation are different events.
They should not be compressed into one moment.
Hillside Within Springfield Gardens
Through Council-Hillside, Hillside’s institutional line became part of Springfield Gardens.
That did not mean Hillside remained a separately operating lodge.
It meant its succession continued within the receiving institution.
Springfield Gardens later incorporated another branch through Jamaica-Queens Village in 2013.
That branch included Prosperity, Hillside’s former fellow occupant on 96th Street.
The two histories ultimately met in one continuing lodge, but not through the same intermediate unions.
Read Jamaica-Queens Village Lodge No. 546: Keeping the 1864 Number.
For Springfield Gardens’ present meeting place, see A Queens Lodge Outside Queens.
The Lodge That Needed More Room
Hillside’s early history is unusually vivid.
About thirty charter members became nearly five hundred within the first decade.
The lodge commissioned a temple, drew a large workforce into its fair and soon had to enlarge the building.
A dinner with name cards supplies the human scale of that growth.
The later record is less complete.
It establishes consolidation, church reuse of the temple and continuation within Springfield Gardens. It does not justify assigning every change to a single cause.
Hillside’s story is therefore both a history of expansion and a reminder about evidence.
We can document the crowded beginning.
The decades that followed still require the same care.
Sources and Research Notes
Newspaper references follow the author’s supplied Hillside clippings. Direct links are included where identified public sources are available. Unlinked clipping citations are preserved rather than assigned speculative URLs.
Formation and Early Leadership
“Hillside Lodge Temple,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 28, 1913, p. 5. Institution on May 29, 1911, and temple plans.
Grand Lodge of New York records, as compiled by Brete Murphy. May 8, 1912 charter; April 29, 1963 Council-Hillside consolidation; July 22, 1994 entry into Springfield Gardens.
“Masons Honor Courtenay,” Brooklyn Daily Times, November 16, 1917, p. 9. Courtenay’s founding role, two terms and Grand Lodge representative appointment.
“Hillside Lodge Elects,” Brooklyn Eagle, January 2, 1916, p. 71; “Officers Installed,” Brooklyn Daily Times, January 7, 1916, p. 12. John M. Smythe and the installation.
Building and Membership Growth
“Broke Masonic Records for Temple Building,” The Chat, October 4, 1913, p. 55. Holding company, officers and building campaign.
Brooklyn Daily Times, January 27, 1914, p. 8; Brooklyn Daily Eagle, January 18, 1914, p. 83. Fair, participants and Wenige’s leadership.
“Enlarge Hillside Temple,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 30, 1920, pp. 16 and 20. Growth from approximately thirty charter members to almost five hundred, seating plans and finance committee.
Joel Steven Kuszai, “Hillside Temple”. Neighborhood context, enlargement and later sale. Claims drawn from this account remain attributed pending comparison with original property records.
Author’s Advance Lodge and Wenige research. The relationship between Hillside’s lodge-room drawings and the Advance temple.
Shared Use and Lodge Life
“Prosperity Lodge Instituted at Woodhaven,” Brooklyn Daily Times, May 27, 1920, p. 3. Prosperity’s institution.
Brooklyn Daily Times, January 4, 1925. Prosperity’s use of the 96th Street temple.
“Hillside Get-Together Dinner,” Brooklyn Daily Times, March 12, 1922, p. 9. Attendance, aprons and name cards.
Brooklyn Daily Times, March 15, 1925, p. 7. Degree work and Past Masters.
“Harry S. Best Funeral Tuesday,” Brooklyn Daily Times, May 6, 1928, p. 48. Masonic service and the printed “8605 96th St.” address.
Members’ notices: Times Union, May 6, 1930; Bridgeport Telegram, April 27, 1948; Orlando Sentinel, December 18, 1959; Newsday, March 6, 1973. Residence and affiliation examples, not a complete demographic survey.
Later Continuation
Author’s Springfield Gardens lineage dossier. Council-Hillside and Prosperity’s separate routes into Springfield Gardens.
[Grand Lodge connect, Springfield Gardens No. 1057](Groupable
Groupable
Present receiving institution and Queens affiliation.
A Note on Counts and Interpretation
The approximately thirty charter members and almost five hundred members reported in 1920 are historical figures attributed to contemporary coverage.
They should not be converted into exact totals or assumed to describe attendance.
The fair workforce included women and men beyond the lodge membership.
Prosperity’s use of Hillside’s temple was shared occupancy, not consolidation with Hillside.
Neighborhood development and membership growth coincided. The surviving evidence does not establish the homeownership or motives of every member.
Later residential moves do not, by themselves, explain the 1963 or 1994 consolidations.
The 1986 building sale follows Kuszai’s account. The deed history remains to be examined.
The 1994 date follows the author’s Grand Lodge compilation and should be compared with the original record.
Institutional succession is not used as proof that all original charters, minutes or objects are physically held by Springfield Gardens.
Questions for Further Research
- Who were the approximately thirty charter members?
- What were their occupations and addresses?
- What do annual returns show after the 1920 membership report?
- How frequently did the full membership attend?
- Who designed and completed the enlargement?
- What do minutes record about the Council consolidation?
- When did Council-Hillside leave the temple?
- Which entity sold the building in 1986?
- How should the 1928 “8605” address be reconciled with 86-03?
- Where are Hillside’s minutes, printed histories and ceremonial objects?
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 every clipping, deed or photograph cited above.
Continue the Springfield Gardens Series
The Main Feature
Springfield Gardens Lodge No. 1057: Nine Lodges, One Living History
Place Hillside within the complete consolidation framework.
The Companion Building History
The Hillside Temple in Woodhaven
Explore the design, construction, enlargement and church reuse of the lodge’s former home.
The Series Overview
Open the Springfield Gardens Lodge series
Find the companion lodge histories and meeting-place studies.
The Other Branch That Included Prosperity
Jamaica-Queens Village Lodge No. 546: Keeping the 1864 Number
Follow the later institutional route of Hillside’s former fellow occupant.
The Continuing Institution
Springfield Gardens Lodge No. 1057: A Queens Lodge Outside Queens
Examine the lodge’s present meeting place beyond the borough.
Related Queens Histories
Wenige’s Astoria Work
One Room, Three Lodges: Arthur E. Wenige and the Advance Masonic Temple
Follow the architect’s connection between two Queens lodge rooms.
Another Rapidly Growing Neighborhood Lodge
Tadmor Lodge No. 923: A Monument in the Making of Ridgewood
Compare Hillside’s early growth with a later Ridgewood institution.
Return to the Springfield Gardens Main Feature · Springfield Gardens Series Overview · Read the Hillside Temple History
Lodge Histories · Masonic Buildings in Queens · Queens History and Freemasonry
