CRAIG, COLORADO
Tradition informs us that the first meeting of Masons in Routt County was held in an oat field during the late summer or early fall of 1890. The ten who became members and who organized the Lodge were: Brothers James M. Darnall, Frank B. Ranney, James L. Tower, Matt Johnson, William W. Wayman, William Taylor, Joseph D. Tower, S.M. Dowden, R. H. Green and Louis H. Breeze. The business of this meeting consisted of making arrangements for organizing Yampa Lodge U. D. and electing the officers to be recommended for appointment by the Grand Master to serve for the first year. They were Bros. J. M. Darnall, W.M.; F. B. Ranney, S.W.; and J, L. Tower, J,W. The first recorded meeting was held March 30, 1891.
The first petitioner for the degrees in Yampa Lodge U. D. was R. H. Buchanan, who became the first to be initiated in the new Lodge.
On October 26, 1891 a special communication of Yampa Lodge U. D. was called and Yampa Lodge No. 88 was duly constituted and dedicated.
On Dec. 5, 1892, it was decided to have a public installation of officers on Dec. 27, and each brother was allowed six invitations.
In the early days Yampa seemed to have janitorial trouble. The Lodge agreed to pay Bro. R. H. Green fifty cents per night as janitor fees, and Bro. Green was to be fined $1.00 for each and every night he failed to have a fire and the room in good order. Bro. Green performed his duties in a satisfactory manner as there is no record of his having been fined.
The first meetings of Yampa Lodge were held in the old Town Hall building, but it was destroyed by fire in 1896.
In October, 1895, the Lodge was moved to Darnall Hall.
In July, 1917, the Lodge moved to the new Lodge rooms over the First National Bank. It occupied these rooms until July 12, 1928.
In 1947 the Lodge purchased new officers’ aprons and collars and the old ones were sent to Baguio Lodge, Baguio City, Philippines.
Membership November, 1960 203
