ARVADA, COLORADO
When congratulating R. W. Bro. George E. Simonton upon his election as Deputy Grand Master of Masons of Colorado in 1911, Albert H. Barth, not then a Mason, expressed the desire that a lodge might be started in Arvada and that he might join. Later he arranged for R. W. Bro. Simonton to meet in his home with Bro. Walter R. James, a member of an Illinois lodge, to discuss the proposed lodge.
Resident Masons of Arvada consequently held several meetings but action was slow as most of them were from other jurisdictions and unfamiliar with Colorado work. Bro. Fred T. Newton of Union Lodge No.7, Denver, was finally persuaded to spearhead the organization. The first recorded meeting was in Kennedy’s Store September 27, 1911.
Dispensation was obtained March 11, 1912 and Arvada, No. 141 was chartered September 17 of that year.
“The Lodge Rooms over Juchem’s Store” was the meeting place until 1924. The lodge met in four locations, Barth Hall, the Bank hall, Wheat Ridge Methodist Church basement, and Lakewood Masonic Temple prior to occupancy of its own new Temple in 1949.
The original Bible used was one sent to Bro. Newton on his twenty-first birthday by his mother in London, England. The Square and Compasses were loaned by Union Lodge No.7. The first marshal’s baton was a piece of three-eighths inch nickel pipe with a cap on each end. Lecture charts were used until 1916 when they were replaced by lantern slides. Later they were loaned to Edgwater No. 159 and Hudson No. 160.
Membership, 1960 588
