The Number That Traveled East: Francis Lewis Lodge No. 273 and Its Queens Lineage
Francis Lewis Lodge No. 273 carries the number of a Manhattan lodge chartered in 1852. Follow the histories of Metropolitan, Whitestone, Bayside and Brandeis through three consolidations to a shared meeting place in College Point—and discover how an institutional number connects different generations of New York and Queens.
Red Brick and White Columns: The Bayside Masonic Temple on Bell Boulevard
Red brick, white Corinthian columns and a design contributed by a lodge member gave Bayside’s 1923 Masonic temple its distinctive presence on Bell Boulevard. Follow the building from cornerstone and dedication through decades of community gatherings, later church ownership and a substantial expansion project reported in 2015.
Bayside’s Front Parlor: Lodge No. 999 and the Temple on Bell Boulevard
Bayside Lodge No. 999 built its Bell Boulevard temple barely a year after receiving its charter. Over the next six decades, Scouts, charitable groups, neighborhood organizations and visiting Masons filled its rooms. Explore the lodge, its member-architect and the building that became Bayside’s unofficial meeting hall.
A Signer’s Name, an Older Number: Francis Lewis Lodge No. 273
In 1986, Metropolitan-Whitestone and Bayside lodges joined under a signer’s name while keeping a number first issued in Manhattan in 1852. Explore the beginnings of Francis Lewis Lodge No. 273, the Brandeis consolidation of 2015 and the histories carried forward by the surviving lodge.
The 273 Line: How a Manhattan Lodge Number Came to Rest in Northeast Queens
A Manhattan lodge number found its way to northeast Queens through a division, three consolidations and generations of members. Start the seven-part series tracing Atwood, Metropolitan, Whitestone, Bayside and Brandeis—the five lodge histories behind Francis Lewis Lodge No. 273.
Maspeth, North Shore and Cardozo: Three Lodge Histories Behind Harmony
Maspeth, North Shore and Cardozo lodges form three branches of Harmony Lodge No. 241’s institutional history. Explore the funeral notices, bowling results, charitable activity and meeting-place references that preserve parts of their stories, from Maspeth’s 1928 beginnings to the northeast Queens lodges chartered in 1955.