Worthington Memory  
http://www.worthingtonmemory.org
Contributor: Grand Lodge of Ohio Masonic Museum
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                       The Grand Lodge of Ohio

                       Free and Accepted Masons

     1808                                                   1908


          Pursuant to a previous call, delegates from the following
     Lodges, holding charters from various Grand jurisdictions, viz:

                Union Lodge No. 1, of Marietta;
                Cincinnati Lodge No. 13, of Cincinnati;
                Scioto Lodge No. 2, of Chillicothe;
                New England Lodge No. 48, of Worthington;
                Erie Lodge No. 47, of Warren;
                Amity Lodge No. 105, of Zanesville,

     met, on the 4.th day of January, 18o8, at Chillicothe.  Owing to
     a defect in the credentials of New England Lodge No. 48 it took no
     part in the preliminary organization which the other five proceeded
     to complete.  Union Lodge No. 1 took no further part for a
     number of years, so that the actual organization of the Grand Lodge
     was carried out by the remaining four Lodges.

          From these four Lodges, with a membership of probably less
     than one hundred, the Grand Lodge has grown into a membership
     of over seventy thousand, with five hundred and ten chartered
     Lodges and four under dispensation.

          The first Grand Master was General Rufus Putnam.  In all
     there have been fifty-one Grand Masters and fifteen Grand
     Secretaries.

          The Craft was never so prosperous or with a brighter future
     before it than at this time, on the occasion of its Centennial
     Celebration.