Monthly Meetings: 1st Saturday
Dinner: 6pm Meeting:
Dinner from 6:00 to 7:30 PM.
Dinner: Feburary 2016
TBA
On September 11, 1851, in the mid-morning hours, 15 men rode their horses and wagons into the yard area of “Smiths Girls Academy” to meet and organize a Masonic Lodge in the area then known as Barry, Missouri. These men were comprised of local masons with visitors from Temperance Lodge #438 at Smithville and Compass Lodge #120 at Parkville who met to help organize a masonic lodge for the local brethren.
John W. Smith, founder of the girls academy which bore his name, donated the second floor of the building to the fraternity and, it is presumed that from this gift the first lodge was named “Smith Lodge”. The original lodge building which sat on the same site of the current lodge, was, we believe from the sparse records, was a brick structure. John W. Smith was considered a well educated man and continued the school on the first floor for the betterment of his own daughters.
The first regular meeting of the Smith Lodge was held on January 10, 1852 with William Conway acting as the first Worshipful Master. On March 6, 1852 Aaron Cox submitted the first peitiion for the degrees. In September of 1852 Smith Lodge received it’s charter and on January 22, 1853, the first By-laws of the lodge were printed by Dunn & Adams printers in Weston, Missouri and signed by 62 members of the young lodge.. The first meetings were held on Saturday evenings and that tradition continues today. Dues for the new lodge were $1.50 for six months.
On May 8, 1855, Smith Lodge was renamed Rising Sun Lodge No. 13 and in spite of the difficult economic conditions of the time, records indicate that the lodge continued to thrive and remained active. In 1859, Andrew S. Truman was initiated in Rising Sun Lodge. Brother Truman was thought to be the grandfather of Harry S. Truman, Past President of the United States and past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Missouri. In 1871, Andrew Truman demitted from Rising Sun Lodge #13 when he moved from the area.
In 1860 the Smith Girls Academy suffered a severe fire that destroyed it and the Lodge. Not to be denied their masonic home, the structure was rebuilt just to the west of the original site and the Academy and Lodge moved into their new home shortly there after.
During the 5 years of the Civil War, Rising Sun maintained regular meetings with only one minor interruption and received visitors from both northern and southern states. During this time of war, visitors and members would hide their guns on the first floor, attend lodge on the second floor and later depart to their regular activities. History tells us that “one color uniform” would provide the “other color uniform” with a 30-minute get away time before the other side would pursue. During this time in our history, there is no record in the minutes of cross words by opposing brothers of different uniforms.
On March 17, 1914 Twenty-five people met at Rising Sun Lodge to organize Barry Chapter No.169, Order of the Eastern Star. Sister Alice Mothershead was the first Worthy Matron and Brother Joseph Reddish was the first Worthy Patron.
In 1951, almost 100 years after the founding of the lodge, a motion was made to purchase the first floor of the building from the Girls school for the sum of $100.00. The motion passed and the title of the building went to the Trustees of Rising Sun Lodge #13. Finally in 1979, after serving the fraternity for more than 100 years, the two story structure was demolished and in 1980, the present home, pictured on the main page of this website, was dedicated. It too is a two story structure with the dining hall in the lower level accessed from the rear of the building.
