HISTORY OF THE MASONIC BUILDING

     In 1823, members of the Masonic order in Franklin began

assembling hand made bricks that would ultimately become the

tallest building then standing west of the Allegheny Mountains.

     Franklin's Masonic Temple, called one of the most significant

historic buildings in the South by many experts in architecture of

the past, has served as home of Hiram #7 ever since its completion.

This fact makes it the oldest continuing lodge in the same location in

the United States.

     The first three-story building in Tennessee, the 1823 Masonic

Temple, was constructed with the proceeds from the first legal

lottery in Tennessee history.

     "It is a unique mixture of country craftsmanship and Gothic

tradition," according to an authority on Middle Tennessee

architecture. "It's the oldest Gothic Revival building in Tennessee,

and one of the oldest Gothic structures still standing in the country."

     The building pre-dates by about 15 years the major thrust of

Gothic Architecture which took place in this country around 1840.

"This building combines the flatness of the Federal Style with such

Gothic features as pointed arches, battlements and finials on the

pilasters. It reads like a Who's Who in architecture in history.  If it

were on the East Coast where most of the writing on architecture is

done, it would be a text book example rather than an unknown

quantity."

     Most of the men prominent in the early history of Franklin and

Nashville had been members or guests of the lodge.  Andrew Jackson

and James Robertson, the founder of Nashville, were in frequent

attendance there.  Felix Grundy, author of the Code of Tennessee and

a friend of Jackson's, figured importantly in the initial stages of the lodge's

history. Guilford Dudley was one of its first officials.

     The public record of Masonry in Franklin even pre-dates the 1823

building. Minutes of the Williamson County court of July 12, 1812, show

that the court approved a motion to allow the Mason's to meet in the

courthouse.

     The building served as the founding hall also for many Franklin

churches. The first Episcopal Church in the State of Tennessee

was organized within its walls on August 25, 1827, by Tennessee's

first Episcopal Bishop, James T. Otey.  The Church of Christ met

here for a time as did the Presbyterian Church.

     President Andrew Jackson met with a delegation of Chickasaw

Indians on the steps of the Masonic Hall on August 17, 1830.  From

that ceremony came a treaty that resulted in the removal of the

Chickasaws from their native lands to the West.

     The Masonic Hall also figures in the history of the Battle of Franklin

during the Civil War.  It was used as an observation post by Union and

Confederate forces, and later as a hospital for Union soldiers.

     In 1912, 45 years after the Federal occupation, the U.S. government

paid reparations to the lodge for damage done to the building.  New stairs

and floorings were installed.

     Minutes of the lodge dating as far back as August, 1877 are stored in

fireproof vaults in the building.  Members still hope that the lost minutes

of the Hiram Lodge #7 that pre-date the Civil War and were stored in a

Franklin Bank after the Battle of Franklin will someday be recovered.