History - Lodge 145
Hope Lodge No. 145 Free and Accepted
Masons is the year looking back on 100 years …One
hundred years and a thousand memories. Memories rich
in the knowledge that Masons of Lafayette have helped
to develop and build this area into the prosperous
community it has become. Numbered among its members
have been leading doctors, lawyers, judges, educators
military, business, agricultural and political leaders…all
men of good will.
As men of good will they helped to carve
out of the vast Attakapas Prairie a thriving city,
which today still gives evidence of the healthy start
it had in its infancy.
Although Hope Lodge began officially
on February 10, 1957 with the granting of its charter,
meeting actually were held much earlier under a special
dispensation granted May 30, 1856 by Most Worshipful
Brother William Perkins, then Grand Master of the
state. At the first meeting following the special
dispensation on June 29, 1856 the following members
were present: Brother Andre Martin, W.M.; J. J. Caffery,
S. W.; Rosamond Dugat, Sec.; Aimee Dufour, J.D.; A.
Richard, Tyler, Caffery and Girard were appointed
as a committee to draft the by-laws for the provisional
government of the lodge until they could be confirmed
by the Grand Lodge.
Brother Andre Martin, elected Worshipful
Master of the Lodge during the time it was in existence
under special dispensation, served in that capacity
until the official institution of the Lodge. The high
esteem and love held by the members of the Lodge for
Brother Martin was revealed in the resolution on his
death presented at the meeting of the Lodge on Wednesday,
8th day of May, 1867:
“Be it Resolved that bowing with
due obedience to the decrees of an All-Wise Providence
we as members of Hope Lodge No. 145 do feel in the
demise of Brother A. Martin the loss of a worthy friend
and brother.
That we do extend our heartfelt sympathies
to the bereaved family of him who was the first Worshipful
Master of this Lodge, and who lived and died an upright
Mason.
That this Lodge be draped in mourning
for the term of thirty days, and the members thereof
wear the usual badges of mourning in memory of our
deceased brother for the same lapse of time.
That they be spread upon the minutes
of this Lodge that they be published in the “Advertiser”
and that a copy of the same be sent to the family
of the departed friend.”
Signed: Alex Mouton, H. N. Dubose and
Wm. Mouton, Committee.
Although the recorded history of Hope
Lodge dates from June 29, 1856, there is evidence
that Masons were in Vermilionville, as Lafayette was
first known, as early as the 1840’s and probably
even earlier. In an historical sketch by Rev. Charles
L. Souvay, C.M. entitled “Rummaging Though Old
Parish Records”, there is mention of Abbe A.
D. Megret’s purchase of the old Masonic Lodge
for the academy of Mount Carmel. Abbe Megret was Catholic
pastor in Lafayette from 1842 to 1853.
Rev Souvay records in his sketch: “Some
time later Father Megret bought the Old Masonic Lodge,
and the adjacent lots, and thither was the convent
moved on the spot which it still occupies.”
By virtue of its charter, however, the
official history of Hope Lodge No. 145, F. & A.M.
begins on February 10, 1857. On March 7, 1857 Thomas
H. Lewis by virtue of the proxy granted him by the
M:W: Grand Master of the State of Louisiana opened
the local Lodge for the purpose of constituting, consecrating
and installing Hope Lodge No. 145. Officers were elected
as follows:
M. E. Girard, W.M., C H. Mouton, S.W.
J. J.Caffery, J. W., A. Martin, Treas., A. Bailey,
Sec., Aimee Dufour, Tyler. Other Charter Members Were:
Claude Coulouvrat, N. Higginbotham, R. Dugas, W.B.
Erwin.
The Worshipful Master elect then appointed
W.B. Ervin, S. D. and Rosamond Dugat, J. Deacon, Girard
served as Worshipful Master of Hope Lodge No. 145
from 1857 to 1873 with the exception of one year.
Before becoming a member of the local Lodge, he had
been a Mason in the Franklin Lodge No. 57 since 1855.
From these early records of Hope Lodge
we know that the first fraternal order to establish
a chapter in Lafayette parish was the Masonic Lodge.
Alexander Mouton, Louisiana’s 9th
Governor, a member of Hope Lodge No. 145, donated
to the members of the Lodge on August 15, 1857 the
site on which the Lodge built its first home and on
which the present Lodge is located. According to records
in the Clerk of Court’s office. Alexander Mouton
appeared before William Brandt, Clerk of Court, on
the 29th day of June 1861 and donated Town lot 84
in Vermilionville to members of the Lodge. Michel
E. Girard accepted the donation in the name of members
of the Lodge. Onezime Mouton and Andre Martin were
witnesses to this transaction.
The first Lodge was a one-story structure.
It was used for many worthwhile purposes in addition
to serving as a meeting place for the Masons. From
1861 to 1865 the Lodge met in the Court House in order
to allow the use of the building to Rev. Thomas Rand
for use as a schoolhouse. Many of Vermilionville’s
early citizens had their schooling here under his
tutelage. For a time also the Lodge was used for a
Baptist Church and a Sunday school room as well as
for a meeting place for the Vermilionville Grange.
After the Civil War the Old Masonic
Building was rased and a second story was added. This
building served until 1916 when the membership became
so large it was necessary to consider larger quarters.
In 1916, during the term of Dr. M.E. Saucier, it was
decided that a new temple should be built that would
take care of the present membership and into the future.
He served again in 1928 during which time the indebtedness
was paid. On several occasions the Lodge had considered
selling the building and site to make possible the
erection of a building elsewhere. On each occasion
it was decided to continue at the original site.
Architect G. B. Knapp and Contractor
A. Van Dyke, both members of the Lodge, were employed
for the construction of the new 1916 Lodge. This new
Temple was completed and dedicated in 1917 by the
officers of the Grand Lodge of Louisiana.
A Masonic Cemetery was started in 1925
by Brother J. A. Chargois; a Past Master. He purchased
for the Lodge one acre of the land adjacent to the
Protestant Cemetery on Pinhook Road. It has been maintained
for Master Masons and their families since then.
The present temple served as is until
early in 1956 when, with John E. Stephan as Worshipful
Master of the Lodge, a general renovation of the Temple
took place. An 8-passsenger elevator was added. The
entire interior was renovated and a new kitchen built.
The 145-year-old stations used in the Lodge, which
came from the original Grand Lodge in New Orleans,
were refinished and re-upholstered. The Lodge Room
was completely air-conditioned. The entire project
thus adapted the 1916 building to a modern and functional
structure.
Among Masonic organization meeting in
the Temple now are: Hope R.A. M., Lafayette Council
No. 24 R. & S. M., Rayne Commandry No. 16, Knight
Templar Evangeline Shrine Club, there is also Lafayette
Chapter No. 46 Order of the Eastern Star, Guy W. Hopkins
Chapter No. 789 Order of DeMolay for Boys, and the
Lafayette Assembly No. 18 Order of Rainbow for Girls.
From the earliest days of Masonry here
in Vermilioville, members of the local Lodge have
held high state offices or established outstanding
records as Masons. M. E. Girard was Grand Master of
the State in 1873. He is one of the few Masons ever
to preside over all the State York Rite Bodies- namely
Grand High Priest of the Royal Arch Chapter, Most
Illustrious Grand Master of the Council of Royal and
Select Masters and Rt. Eminent Grand Commander of
Knights Templar of the State of Louisiana.
As leaders in the professional business,
political and agricultural life of the community,
it was but natural to find the Masons making their
Lodge available to the community, providing special
charitable funds to aid those needy persons outside
the Masons and generally guiding the destiny of the
little Town.
In addition to the illustrious record
set by Brother Alexander Mouton as member of the Legislature,
U.S. Senator, Governor, President of the Convention
that voted for Secession, and leading planter, we
find other members of the local Lodge in positions
of leadership in the community in the course of its
history. P. S. Arceneaux was president of the Police
Jury; Wm. B. Bailey was owner and publisher of the
“Lafayette Advertiser”, secretary of the
City Council and Mayor of the town. B. A. Salles,
W. O. Smith and William Mouton were councilman. A.
J. Moss was parish judge. Moss, Bailey, F. Daigle,
J. R. Creighton, Salles and Mouton were members of
the Parish Agricultural Committee. Smith, Wm. Brandt,
M.P. Young, Dr. A. R. Trahan and F. E. Girard also
served terms as mayor. Alcibiades DeBlanc was Justice
of the Supreme Court of Louisiana and a leader in
the State. More recently we find another Mason, Crow
Girard, a Past Master 1892, donating the original
25 acres for Southwestern Louisiana Institute’s
campus. J. O. Herpin Trustee of Public Property of
the City of
Lafayette from 1916 to 1919.
Other Masons playing a leading role
in the educational systems of the area were Edwin
L. Stephens, first president of Southwestern Louisiana
Institute, who served in that capacity until 1938;
John Wesley Faulk, superintendent of Lafayette Parish
Schools from July 22, 1923 to August 28, 1942; and
L.L. Judice. President of the school board form 1923
to 1941; and who is credited in large measure with
laying the foundation for the present Lafayette parish
public school system.
Guy Hopkins was Grand Illustrious Master
of the Royal and Select Masons of the State in 1925.
He was Grand High Priest of the Royal Arch Masons
in 1927 and Grand Commander of the Grand Commandry
of the Knights Templar in 1929.
J. L. Stephan is the only member of
the local Lodge at the present time who is holding
Grand elective office. He is Grand Principal Sojourner
of the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of the State
of Louisiana.
It is said that time is the great tester
of all things. If an institution can stand the test
of time and still maintain its ideals and principles
it must be worthwhile. Masonry first came to the little
Town of Vermilionville, now Lafayette, one hundred
years ago and though its membership has entirely changed,
its mental and moral ideals have remained the same.
It has stood the acid test of time and has continued
to hold up its high standard of life and morality
and has been a great influence for good in the up
building of this community. The foundation of Masonry
is deeply laid upon the Great Book of Life and Masonry
has never had to change its ideals and never will.
It will remain true to the end when the Great master
of all will take charge of the Craft and order the
working tools laid down and the Craft dismissed.
Put in historical perspective a century
is but a moment. Such a moment, however, packs a hundred
years of achievement for the Lodge, for the Community,
for the State and for the Nation. It is a record written
by each member of the Lodge from those early days
in 1857 until…the day, which marks the celebration
of the Centennial of Hope Lodge No. 145.
