Holland Lodge No. 1, A.F. & A.M. of Texas

Ancient Free & Accepted Masons of Texas. First Masonic Lodge in Texas. Organized in March 1835 at Brazoria. Set to work Dec. 27, 1835, under dispensation of Grand Lodge of Louisiana, for whose 1835-37 Grand Master, John Henry Holland, this lodge was named. Labors were interrupted in Feb. 1836, in Texas War for Independence, when lodge and records were destroyed by Mexican army during march of Gen. Urrea to join forces with Dictator Santa Anna. The charter, however, was then in saddlebags of Dr. Anson Jones, Texas patriot and first worshipful master of Holland Lodge, who carried the sacred document into battle and victory at San Jacinto, April 21, 1836. In Nov. 1837, Holland Lodge was reopened, in the Republic of Texas capitol (at site of present Rice Hotel), Houston. On Dec. 20, 1837, Holland Lodge No. 36 (the original designation under Grand Lodge of Louisiana) met with the only other Masonic bodies then existent in Texas-- Milam Lodge No. 40 of Nacogdoches and McFarland Lodge No. 41 of San Augustine-- and organized the Grand Lodge of the Republic of Texas. Dr. Anson Jones, of this lodge, was elected first grand master of the Grand Lodge of the Republic of Texas, and Holland Lodge was assigned the No. 1 designation.

Holland Lodge No. 1, A.F. & A.M. of Texas is a historical marker in Houston, Harris County, dedicated in 1970. It is one of 422 historical markers documented in Harris County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 849 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 29.7289, -95.3909 near Houston. The nearest cataloged historic site is Logue House (historic place), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include St. Paul's United Methodist Church, Sterling-Berry House, and Maurice J. Sullivan.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5201010686. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.