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Waterdown Lodge No. 357

Regular Meetings: Third Tuesday of every month, except July and August
Emergent meetings: As per Lodge by-laws

Worshipful Master: Jim Brown
Email address: wm_waterdown@hamiltondistrictamasons.org

Secretary: Malcolm Murray
Telephone: 289-880-6297
Email address: sec_waterdown@hamiltondistrictamasons.org


Lodge History

The year was 1877. It entered cold and snowy. More snow added to the substantial amount, which blanketed the Waterdown area. Travel was difficult, and spring seemed a long way off.

For some time a group of dedicated Masons in the Waterdown area, consisting of D. H. Hunter, James McMonies. Thos. Attridge. H. Spence, W. H. Crooker, John Baker, Edward Brown, Joseph Smye and Samuel Green had been attempting to promote the formation of a Masonic Lodge in Waterdown. To these Masons, the coming of winter automatically curtailed their Masonic activities. To attend lodge in Burlington, Hamilton or Dundas, one had to face a three-hour return trip by horse and sleigh, along with the possibility of a bad storm, which could leave a Mason stranded many miles from home. So the inclement weather of 1877 served to reinforce their determined efforts to establish a Masonic Lodge in Waterdown.

By February of 1877, Bros. D. H. Hunter and company had secured a room, which, with a few adjustments, would make an excellent lodge room. This room was situated above a tinsmith’s shop on the property now occupied by the Memorial Hall in Waterdown.

With much help from the brethren of Burlington Lodge, the necessary furnishings were acquired and all that was required now was dispensation from Grand Lodge. Dispensation was not long in coming, and on Tuesday the 27th day of March. 1877, the first meeting of Waterdown Lodge was held.

R. W. Bro. Brierly D.D.G.M. opened Lodge at 9:00 P.M. and read the dispensation from Grand Lodge permitting the formation of a new lodge at Waterdown. He then called the following officers to take their places: D. H. Hunter, W. Master: James McMonies, Senior Warden; Thos. Attridge, Jr. Warden; John Baker, Treasurer; and W. H. Crooker, Secretary. The Jr. officers appointed were Joseph Smye, Edward Brown, Samuel Green and W. Spence. The D.D.G.M. then proceeded to place the W. Master in the east and invest the other officers with their regalia of office. Twenty other brethren were present; seventeen from Burlington, two from St. John’s Lodge in Hamilton and one from Acacia Lodge in Hamilton.

Waterdown Lodge was off to an excellent start and the D.D.G.M. in presenting his report to the Grand Master, said in part: “The zeal and ability displayed by the officers and members justify me in recommending that a warrant be duly granted to them at the approaching session of Grand Lodge”…

To be One, Ask One!