By Brete Murphy · November 11, 2026
Wakefield’s founders brought affiliations with nine lodges in two states to a South Ozone Park organizing meeting in 1929. Their new institution took shape through a clubhouse, a cellar practice room and assistance from Cathedral, Tadmor and Richmond Hill.
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On November 12, 1929, eleven Masons met in the upper rooms of the Glen Morris Civic Club at 114-14 116th Street in South Ozone Park.
Their purpose was to organize a lodge.
Their earlier affiliations represented nine institutions.
Two men came from Day Star. Two came from Richmond Hill. The other seven each brought a different lodge connection.[1]
That distribution gives Wakefield’s beginning a distinctive place in this series.
The new lodge was not simply a group departing from one established institution.
It assembled men with several earlier affiliations and then found places where they could organize, rehearse and conduct their work.
The principal account comes from one of those founders, Edward W. Palmer.
His “Ten Years of Masonic Endeavor,” published in Wakefield’s 1940 anniversary book, is both a record and a recollection.
Its dates and names provide the framework.
Its cellar stories preserve how a participant wanted the beginnings remembered.
A Lodge for the Wakefield Area
Palmer’s account associated the proposed lodge with the South Ozone Park area known as the old Wakefield Farms.
The civic club supplied the setting for the first organizing meeting.
That does not establish that it was the neighborhood’s only suitable public room or that all the founders had recently moved there.
Their addresses, occupations and residential histories still require research.
What the account does establish is a local organizing purpose and a group whose Masonic affiliations extended beyond that locality.
The founding roster makes those connections visible.
Eleven Founders, Nine Home Lodges
Wakefield’s anniversary history lists the following men and affiliations:[1]
| Founder | Home lodge identified in the anniversary history |
|---|---|
| Edward W. Palmer | Astor No. 603 |
| William A. Rauh | Naval No. 69 |
| Thomas J. Hart | Day Star No. 798 |
| Howard T. Hart | Day Star No. 798 |
| George Caldicott | Anthon No. 769 |
| Einar N. Ericson | Hill Grove No. 540 |
| Jeromus H. Meissner | Hillside No. 894 |
| Otto L. Thomsen | Mizpah No. 738 |
| Michael G. Segelbacher | Oxoboxo No. 116, Montville, Connecticut |
| Roy A. Steinmetz | Richmond Hill No. 892 |
| Henry Christ | Richmond Hill No. 892 |
The table records the affiliations given by the source.
It does not establish whether every founder immediately dimitted from his earlier lodge, retained another membership or entered Wakefield through the same administrative process.
Those questions belong in the membership records.
The anniversary account identifies a Connecticut connection through Oxoboxo.
The locations of Astor, Naval, Day Star, Anthon and Hill Grove are left unstated here pending source confirmation.
Three home lodges, however, are already part of the histories followed in this series.
Mizpah, Hillside and Richmond Hill
Otto L. Thomsen came from Mizpah Lodge No. 738.
Mizpah’s later institutional history continued through Island City Mizpah and into the line now represented by Advance Service Mizpah No. 586 in Astoria.[2]
Jeromus H. Meissner came from Hillside Lodge No. 894.
Hillside later combined with Council, and Council-Hillside joined Springfield Gardens No. 1057.
Its present institutional continuation therefore belongs to a different line from Mizpah’s.[2]
Roy A. Steinmetz and Henry Christ came from Richmond Hill Lodge No. 892.
Palmer’s account identifies Steinmetz as Wakefield’s first junior warden.[1]
These are connections through individual members.
They do not establish that Mizpah, Hillside and Richmond Hill jointly sponsored the new lodge or formally supplied representatives.
The founders carried experience from their earlier institutions.
What each home lodge officially contributed remains a separate question.
Read Advance Service Mizpah: The Mizpah Line →
Read Springfield Gardens: The Hillside Line →
Read Anchor-Astoria: The Richmond Hill and Wakefield Line →
“Standard Lodge No. 1”
Before the proposed lodge had a settled meeting room, Palmer provided a practice space in his cellar.
The anniversary account says the officers-to-be called it “Standard Lodge No. 1.”
That was their nickname for the rehearsal setting, not another chartered institution.
They met there once or twice a week.
Palmer remembered a leather settee, an occasionally overenthusiastic stove and the difficulty the tall Steinmetz had with the low cellar beams.
He also recalled long sessions followed by hot lunches.[1]
These details belong to the founder’s affectionate retrospective.
They should not be presented as independently verified observations.
Their value is nevertheless clear.
The account describes preparation as repeated work: arranging a space, rehearsing together and accommodating the practical limitations of a private house.
The nine earlier affiliations did not automatically produce one coordinated officer line.
Practice was part of making the proposed lodge function.
Cathedral Supplies a Setting
In June 1930, the officers exemplified the three degrees before Cathedral Lodge No. 1031 and received a certificate of proficiency, according to Palmer’s account.
Wakefield received its dispensation that August.
Its institution followed on September 8 in Cathedral’s lodge room in the Civic Theatre Building at 113-10 Liberty Avenue.[1]
These were distinct stages.
Preparation and examination preceded authorization to work under dispensation.
The institution ceremony then took place in an established lodge’s premises.
Edward J. Smith of Tadmor acted as Grand Marshal.
His participation adds another cross-lodge connection, but it does not make the occasion a Tadmor undertaking.
Cathedral supplied the room.
Smith performed a ceremonial role.
Wakefield began its own authorized work.
Read Edward J. Smith: Mr. Mason of Queens →
Tadmor Hosts the Constitution
Wakefield’s constitution took place on June 11, 1931, in Tadmor’s temple at Forest Avenue and Summerfield Street in Ridgewood.
Palmer’s anniversary history thanked Tadmor for the use of its “beautiful and commodious temple.”[1]
Thomas J. Towers performed the Deputy Grand Master’s role, while Smith performed the Grand Secretary’s role.
Those ceremonial assignments should not be confused with holding the corresponding Grand Lodge offices.
The occasion brought together several relationships.
A new South Ozone Park lodge used a Ridgewood building.
A Richmond Hill Mason and a Tadmor Mason performed duties in the ceremony.
Wakefield remained a separate institution.
The constitution venue does not establish regular Wakefield tenancy at Tadmor.
Read Thomas J. Towers and the Queens Masonic Association →
Finding a Regular Room
The anniversary account describes Wakefield using a church space that had to be arranged for lodge meetings.
By 1936, it was meeting in Richmond Hill’s temple on Stoothoff Avenue.[1]
The church’s identity still needs confirmation.
A notice referring to St. Matthew’s is a research lead, not yet a fully established occupancy history.
The sequence includes several different kinds of space:
- A civic club for organization.
- A private cellar for practice.
- Cathedral’s room for institution.
- Tadmor’s room for constitution.
- A church meeting space.
- Richmond Hill’s temple.
They should not all be called regular homes.
Nor does the supplied sequence prove that Wakefield never owned any property during its entire existence.
It establishes something more specific: the lodge’s early development relied on access to several premises it had not constructed for itself.
Rauh’s District Appointment
William A. Rauh, whose earlier affiliation was Naval Lodge, became Wakefield’s first Master.
The anniversary history records his appointment as district deputy grand master for the Second Queens District in 1933.[1]
That placed one of the founders in a district role shortly after Wakefield’s constitution.
The account does not establish that the new lodge caused his advancement.
It adds another connection between a recently organized institution and the wider district.
Wakefield’s story was not confined to the rooms it occupied.
Its members also performed work beyond it.
Where the Institutional Lines Went
Wakefield and Richmond Hill consolidated on January 1, 1978.
The resulting Richmond Hill-Wakefield retained No. 892.
Cathedral and Granite had combined in 1976.
On December 4, 1986, those two branches formed Queensboro Lodge No. 892.
Queensboro joined Anchor-Astoria on April 13, 2024.[2]
The earlier relationships give that sequence historical depth.
Richmond Hill had supplied the affiliations of two founders and later a meeting place.
Cathedral had hosted Wakefield’s institution.
Their histories eventually continued within the same lodge.
That was not a literal return of Wakefield to a parent institution.
Wakefield had been a separate body assembled by men from nine lodges.
The later consolidation was another institutional decision, made decades after the founding.
Its reasons require the records of that period.
What the Founders’ Portrait Shows
The roster and room sequence explain different parts of the beginning.
The roster shows earlier affiliations.
The rooms show the practical arrangements through which the new lodge prepared and conducted its work.
Neither alone explains the whole institution.
Together, they reveal a lodge assembled through relationships rather than created in isolation.
Mizpah’s later line continued in Astoria.
Hillside’s continued within Springfield Gardens, now meeting in Rockville Centre.
Wakefield’s continued through Richmond Hill and Queensboro into Anchor-Astoria in College Point.
The founders could not be expected to supply that later map.
Their own account preserves the work immediately before them: finding a place, rehearsing the ceremonies and establishing a lodge.
Palmer called the result “Ten Years of Masonic Endeavor.”
The cellar and the borrowed ceremonial rooms show what that endeavor required.
Endnotes
1. Wakefield’s Anniversary History
Wakefield Lodge No. 1110, tenth-anniversary book, 1940.
Edward W. Palmer, “Ten Years of Masonic Endeavor.”
Supplies the principal account of:
- The November 12, 1929 organizing meeting.
- Founders and earlier lodge affiliations.
- The Glen Morris Civic Club address.
- The cellar practice room.
- The June 1930 exemplification.
- Dispensation and September 8, 1930 institution.
- The June 11, 1931 constitution.
- Early meeting arrangements.
- Rauh’s 1933 district appointment.
The anecdotes are attributed to a founder’s retrospective.
The roster is not treated as proof of identical membership-transfer arrangements for all eleven men.
2. Later Institutional Continuations
Grand Lodge of New York records as compiled by Brete Murphy.
The author’s Advance Service Mizpah, Springfield Gardens and Anchor-Astoria series.
Supports the later Mizpah, Hillside and Richmond Hill-Wakefield lines, including:
- Richmond Hill-Wakefield, January 1, 1978.
- Cathedral-Granite, 1976.
- Queensboro, December 4, 1986.
- Consolidation with Anchor-Astoria, April 13, 2024.
See also Seven Lodges, Thirty-Three Histories.
The earlier “Thirty-Four Charters” working title has been superseded.
3. Geographic Limits
The anniversary account identifies Oxoboxo No. 116 with Montville, Connecticut.
Astor, Naval, Day Star, Anthon and Hill Grove are not geographically placed in this article without additional documentation.
The founders’ residential addresses and reasons for living in the Wakefield area remain research questions.
4. Ceremonial Roles and Premises
Smith’s and Towers’s ceremonial roles are distinguished from holding the corresponding Grand Lodge offices.
A constitution venue is distinguished from regular tenancy.
The church reference and its possible identification as St. Matthew’s require confirmation from the underlying notice.
5. Scope and Remaining Gaps
This article follows the founding group and the arrangements described in the supplied anniversary history.
It does not establish that Wakefield never owned property.
It does not infer what the founders would have thought of later consolidations.
Direct clipping or anniversary-book URLs were not supplied with the manuscript.
Questions for Further Research
- What were Otto L. Thomsen’s occupation, address and earlier lodge offices?
- What were Jeromus H. Meissner’s occupation, address and earlier lodge offices?
- Did they retain their earlier memberships or dimit to Wakefield?
- What membership arrangements did the other founders make?
- Where were Astor, Naval, Day Star, Anthon and Hill Grove based at the relevant dates?
- Which church supplied Wakefield’s early meeting space?
- What dates bracket that occupancy?
- What records or photographs survive for the Glen Morris Civic Club?
- When did Wakefield begin using Richmond Hill’s temple?
- What do the later consolidation records say about the decision to combine?
Follow the Founders’ Lodge Connections
- Advance Service Mizpah: The Mizpah Connection
- Springfield Gardens: The Hillside Connection
- Hillside Masonic Temple
- Anchor-Astoria: Richmond Hill and Wakefield’s Later Line
Continue Through the Connecting Stories
- Edward J. Smith: Mr. Mason of Queens
- Thomas J. Towers and the Queens Masonic Association
- One Hall in Ridgewood: Tadmor Temple
- Where the Lines Meet: The College Point Temple
- Connecting Stories: Complete Guide
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