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Live Stone Lodge #152 PHA
History
HISTORY
OF THE
LIVE STONE LODGE 152
PRINCE HALL FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS
The Most Worshipful Grand Master of Prince Hall Masons in Texas Jurisdiction, J.W. McKinney, granted dispensation to Livestone Masonic Lodge #152 on the 24th day of July, 1903.
Seeing the need of brotherhood and fraternity to bind our community together, our Masonic forefathers petitioned the Grand Lodge of Texas for a charter to open a Lodge. The following Worthy Master Masons reading in the vicinity of Grand Prairie were involved in the petition to be organized as a Lodge: L.C. Combs, J.R. Moore, Charles E. Swan, Henry Williams, Joe Taylor, and Aaron Jones. These men were authorized and empowered to open a Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons in the town of Grand Prairie, County of Dallas Texas.
The Lodge building was originally built for the newly formed Lodge in the vicinity of Antioch Baptist Church and Cemetery, near the black community known as “The Line”. “The Line” was so named because it was a row of homesteads owned by recently freed slaves of area settlers and freedman migrating to the area from southeastern Texas. The cemetery remains at the location, at the now named Hardy Road and avenue D in the Lakeview addition, but has now been renamed American Memorial Cemetery. Many of the original African American residents of Grand Prairie are buried in this cemetery.
At this site, the slaves that were freed following the Civil War made a “colored” community. The Lodge building was used for other community activities for “The Line” residents, besides Lodge meetings. According to Mrs. Iola Reed Smith, as documented on audiotape by Mrs. Ruthie Jackson, June 30, 1986, it was used as a schoolhouse and church. Mrs. Iola remembers her school days at this building site. According to Mrs. Smith, the Lodge Hall also originally housed the Evening Chapel A.M.E. Church in the churches’ earlier days before the congregation could secure their own building.
In 1944, the Lodge building was relocated to the Dalworth community, and placed on land purchased from the Dalworth Company for $200.00 dollars, at its present location at 18th St. and Beaumont.
At the time that the building was relocated, a new cornerstone was installed in the foundation, to the right of the front door. This building cornerstone of white marble reads:
Live Stone #152 F. & A.M.
Organized July 24, 1903
Laid by Metropolitan Lodge #146 F. & A.M.
July 22, 1945
The building served the Dalworth Community in multiple ways, as it had when located at “The Line”. It served as a community-meeting place, a social center, and again as a school. For a couple of years, around 1944, while the Dalworth School was being built, David Daniels conducted 6th and 7th grade classes in the upstairs room of the Lodge. Box suppers and community socials were held in the downstairs room periodically. And, while Lodge meetings were held in the upstairs room, the first floor was used by members of the Dalworth chapters of Eastern Star and the Heroines of Jericho (which were formed by the Live Stone Lodge) for their meetings and community events. According to current members David Daniels and Sam Brown, some of the builders of the Lodge were: Mose Jordan (Past Worshipful Master), M.G. Tallie, Willie Shelton, Eddie Dance, Tom Dell, Leon Shelton, Charlie Dawson, Charlie Reese, Harry Fisher, and Robert Shelton. Livestone Lodge has had a major impact on its community throughout its history, both as a physical structure and in the spirit of its members who have been the leaders in the African American community of Grand Prairie.
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