I'll be speaking Sunday evening at the rededication of Escurial Lodge No. 7 in Virginia City, Nevada. This is their 150th year gala anniversary, chartered in October 1864.
Lodge is opened by Grand Lodge at 2:00PM, followed by the events of the evening at Piper's Opera House. Speakers begin at 6:30, featuring Grand Master MW John Buffington, WBro. Jim Clark, WM of Escurial, Ron James, Nevada State historian, and then me.
Escurial 7 was one of the four original lodges on the Comstock. It was originally chartered by the California Grand Lodge as Escurial # 171, on Oct. 13,1864. It later became Escurial # 7 under the Grand Lodge of Nevada on Jan. 18,1865 shortly after Nevada became a State.
Originally, Escurial Lodge met in the same lodge building as Virginia # 3, and the two lodges shared the same quarters for many years.
On May 19, 1875, a fire consumed much of Virginia City, including the lodge building that Escurial 7 and Virginia 3 were meeting in at the time. This necessitated that the two lodges would meet in the Odd Fellows hall, while a new lodge was being constructed.
On September 3, 1875, a second fire then destroyed the Odd Fellows hall, along with all the Masonic lodge records of Escurial 7 and Virginia 3. Following this fire, the first of the “Masons on the Mountain” meetings was held on top of Mt. Davidson.
Construction of another new lodge was under way when, on October 26, 1875, a third fire destroyed much of the Virginia City, once again, including the lodge.
The present lodge building was constructed in 1987 through the generosity of Brother Francis N. Fisher, PM, PGM, a long time resident of Virginia City and a member of Escurial Lodge # 7.
Many of the present furnishings were salvaged from the fourth lodge building, constructed after the fires, and are still in use today. The lodge jewels are fashioned from the silver mined from the Comstock Lode. The upper lodge room was designed and built as a copy of the original lodge room of 1863.
Approximately 730 Master Masons have joined Escurial Lodge # 7 and signed the by-laws since it’s humble beginning in 1864.
Looking forward to being there.
