PARKVILLE, COLORADO
Summit Lodge No.2 was one of the lodges which formed the Grand Lodge of Colorado. It had been chartered originally by the Grand Lodge of Nebraska June 5th, 1861 as No.8 in that jurisdiction.
It furnished five of the first Grand Officers when the Grand Lodge of Colorado was organized August 2nd, 1861. These were S. M. Robbins, Deputy Grand Master; James Ewing, Senior Grand Warden; C. A. Whittemore, Grand Secretary; Joshua Miller, Senior Grand Deacon; and D. T. Robley, Grand Tiler.
The Lodge met at Seven and a Half O’clock Saturday nights after each full moon. The 14 by 16-ft. Temple was a story and a half high, five rounds of logs being laid above the second floor before the roof was built.
Summit County then consisted of about the northwest quarter of our present State. The earliest minute book of the Summit County Commissioners gives details of an agreement to rent the Masonic Hall. They were to pay $1.00 per day for their meetings, $1.00 per day for county court, and $1.50 for district court.
Summit, No.2 was a busy Lodge during its early days. It had 17 initiations the first year and 13 initiations the second. The third year nine members had moved outside the Territory and twelve had dimitted. Others left for the winter. The Charter was left with the Grand Secretary for two years as they hoped for a new influx of miners but was finallv surrendered in 1865.
There is a monument at Parkville to which the Grand Lodge makes a pilgrimage every summer.
