Lending a Hand: Degree Teams and Borrowed Rooms
Queens lodges shared more than a district. They provided meeting places, welcomed visiting degree teams, contributed gifts and drew on experienced officers and professional assistance. This closing connecting story gathers examples from across The Seven Lodges to reveal a network of cooperation beyond the consolidation charts.
Castle Hall on 31st Avenue: Two Astoria Lodges in the Depression Years
Astoria Lodge and King David Lodge both used Advance’s temple before their histories brought them to Castle Hall on 31st Avenue during the Depression years. Explore their meeting-place connections, the building’s later uses and the institutional paths that now bring both histories together in College Point.
One Astoria Temple, Many Lodge Histories: Advance, Then and Now
Advance’s Astoria temple has accommodated more than the lodge that built it. Follow Astoria and King David’s early meetings, later consolidations and present use by Advance Service Mizpah, Tadmor and Parthenon to discover how one building connects several generations of Queens lodge history.
At the Pulpit and the Dedication: Arthur B. Rhinow and Townsend Scudder
Two short profiles explore connections beyond the lodge room. The Rev. Arthur B. Rhinow linked Tadmor with Ridgewood Presbyterian Church through services and neighborhood activities, while former Grand Master Townsend Scudder presided at the dedication of Advance’s Astoria temple.
A New Lodge in Advance’s Temple: The Thirteen Who Founded Astoria
Thirteen Masons agreed to organize Astoria Lodge in 1918, and its first regular meeting took place in Advance’s recently completed temple. Follow the founders, the Prowse family and the shared rooms that connect Astoria Lodge with Advance, King David and the present lodge lineages meeting in College Point.
A Father’s Stone, a Son’s Gavel: The Two James Prowses
James Prowse Sr. donated Advance Lodge’s cornerstone in 1915 and later helped organize Astoria Lodge. His son, a monumental stone cutter raised in Advance in 1900, became Astoria’s Master in 1926. Their separate contributions connect one family with two continuing Queens lodge lineages.
Where the Lines Meet: Four Queens Lodges at the College Point Temple
Four Queens District lodges now meet at 18-14 College Point Boulevard. Follow the different roads that brought Anchor-Astoria, Cornucopia, Harmony and Francis Lewis to one address—and discover how their seventeen constituent lodge histories connect earlier acts of assistance with a present-day shared meeting place.
The Seven Lodges of the Queens District: Complete Series Guide
Explore the complete guide to the seven lodges of the Queens District. Find each lodge’s institutional history, constituent lodges, temple features and member biographies, then follow the connecting stories that bring their people, places and acts of assistance into one larger Queens history.
The Engineer’s Room: Arthur E. Wenige and the Lodge Room Queens Built Twice
A lodge-room plan connects Woodhaven and Astoria through engineer Arthur E. Wenige. Advance Lodge’s records describe blueprints first used at Hillside and supplied again for its own temple. Tadmor’s history adds an unexpected connection: the lodge began in the Woodhaven building and now meets in the Astoria one.
Jamaica Lodge No. 546: The Rooms It Furnished, the Hall It Dedicated
New furnishings in 1897, a disputed tenancy and a dedication announced for Union Avenue in 1902 reveal the practical work behind Jamaica Lodge No. 546’s search for a home. Explore the newspaper accounts of its rooms, the questions they answer and the building history still to be uncovered.
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.
Thirty-Four by Sixty-Two: The Whitestone Masonic Temple on 11th Avenue
Thirty-four feet wide, sixty-two feet long and sixteen feet high: Whitestone’s new lodge room opened in January 1922, before the dining room was finished. Explore the temple’s first winter, its dedication and Eastern Star chapter room, and the continuing Masonic life of the building at 149-39 11th Avenue.
A Village Lodge Before the Bridge: Whitestone Lodge No. 973
Whitestone’s Masons began in borrowed rooms in 1920 and dedicated their own temple in 1922. Follow Whitestone Lodge No. 973 through its founding ceremonies, shared home with Cygnus Chapter and working years before its 1972 consolidation with Metropolitan Lodge brought it into the continuing 273 line.
One Lodge Room, Two Temples: Arthur E. Wenige’s Queens Blueprint
One lodge-room plan connected two Queens temples. According to Advance Lodge’s records, Arthur E. Wenige’s firm supplied its Astoria building with blueprints previously used at Hillside in Woodhaven. Explore the architect’s Masonic connections and the room that remains in use at the Advance Masonic Temple.
Suburban Lodge at Tadmor Temple: A Shared Masonic Home in Ridgewood
Suburban Lodge No. 1087 began its working life inside Ridgewood’s Tadmor Masonic Temple. Newspaper notices from 1928 through 1955 document degree work, commemorations and social events, revealing how one lodge’s building became a working home for another.
Queens Village Community House: A Lodge Room Without a Temple
Queens Village Lodge No. 1046 held degree ceremonies, dances and social evenings inside the neighborhood’s Community House on Jamaica Avenue. Explore the newspaper notices that document this early lodge home and the unresolved questions surrounding its address, ownership and later fate.
Jamaica Lodge on Union Avenue: A Chapel Moved, a Temple Made
Jamaica Lodge No. 546 left rented rooms in the old Town Hall and made a Masonic temple from a relocated church chapel. Explore its 1902 dedication on Union Avenue, pipe organ, enlargement plans, wartime entertainments and role as the first home of Woodhull Lodge.
Springfield Gardens Masonic Temple: A Community House Before a Lodge
Before Springfield Gardens Lodge received its charter, local Masons organized a club, formed a holding company and built a community hall on Springfield Boulevard. Explore the temple’s 1925 opening, formal dedication, civic gatherings, musical life and later identification as a church.
Dunton Lodge No. 1017: A Clubhouse First, a Lodge Second
Dunton’s Masons began a clubhouse before Dunton Lodge No. 1017 received its charter in 1923. Explore the relationship between club and lodge, members whose careers spanned banking, policing and the electrical trades, and the later consolidation that carried Dunton’s institutional history into Springfield Gardens Lodge No. 1057.
Woodhull Lodge No. 982: Jamaica’s Offshoot in Eastern Queens
Organized in Jamaica’s Masonic Temple in 1921, Woodhull Lodge No. 982 brought together bankers, political figures, professionals and tradesmen from eastern Queens. Explore its beginnings as Jamaica Lodge’s offshoot, its Revolutionary-era namesake, members’ lives and the consolidations that carried its institutional line into Springfield Gardens Lodge No. 1057.