Three Platte Lodges
By RWB R. L. Tichenor, P.D.D.G.M.
Platte County, organized December 31, 1838, is one of the northwestern counties of Missouri wrested from the western Indian country under a treaty ratified February 17, 1837, as the ?Platte Purchase.? The first Masonic Lodge formed in Platte County, Located at Weston, was chartered October 11, 1842, as Weston Lodge No. 53.
The second Platte County Lodge was charted October 14, 1842, as Platte Lodge No. 56, A.F.&A.M. of Platte City. This Lodge lived a rough and rugged life for a time. In 1859 several members demitted and formed a new Lodge, which was chartered May 28, 1859, as Zerubbabel Lodge No. 191. Many of the remaining members were scattered by the Civil War. On July 15, 1864, Kansas ?red legs? completed the wrecking of the Lodge by burning its hall and records. The few survivors then entered the younger Lodge.
Zerubbabel Lodge No. 191 was forced by financial troubles to give up the ghost in 1879, and Platte City was compelled to stager along without a Masonic Lodge until the present Platte City Lodge No. 504 was granted a Dispensation April 15, 1881.
Compass Lodge No. 120, A.F.&A.M. of Parkville, was the third Lodge to erect its Altar in Platte County, being chartered May 10, 1850.
These three Lodges ? Weston No. 53, Platte No. 56, and Compass No. 120, played important parts in the extension of Freemasonry westward. But other Lodges were formed in Platte County. Ringgold Lodge No. 27, chartered at Camden Point May 6, 1852. The present Camden Point Lodge No. 169 was chartered October 18, 1967.
A new Lodge at Barry, in Clay County, was chartered May 8, 1852, as Smith Lodge No. 13. Most of Barry, established about 1829 on the Clay County line when that line was the boundary of Missouri, had moved across into Platte County. Barnes further recommended that ?the name of said Lodge be changed from Smith Lodge No. 13 in Clay County, to Rising Sun Lodge No 13 in Platte County.
A second Lodge opened in Weston when a Dispensation was granted May 19, 870, to Unanimity Lodge.
Ridgley Lodge No. 135 chartered May 7, 1854, went down in the Civil War; and New Market Lodge 274, chartered October 15, 1868, lasted almost exactly ten years.
Rowley Lodge No. 204, chartered in 1867, began its labors at Arnoldsville, Buchanan County, but moved to Dearborn, Platte County, in 1885.
Fidelity Lodge No. 339, of Farley, chartered October 13, 1870, had as its Master in 1941 Worshipful Brother John Farley, a descendant of Joseph Farley who founded the town in 1838.
Adelphi Lodge No. 355, chartered in 1870, began its career at Union Mills, Platte County, which remained its address through 1879. The Proceedings of 1880 and succeeding years show the address as Edgerton.
