Our History
More than 130 years of brotherhood and service in Middletown, Delaware.
Stone Square Lodge No. 22 was chartered in 1894, and for more than a century and a quarter the brethren have gathered, served, and grown together in Middletown, Delaware.
Ours is a history of patience and perseverance. For most of that time the lodge had no building to call its own, meeting wherever the community made room, and putting the needs of neighbors and students ahead of its own. When the chance finally came to build a permanent home, it came the way most good things do in this craft: through the sacrifice of individual brothers and the steady work of many hands. That home, at 208 East Lake Street, is where we still gather today.
A Timeline of the Lodge
- 1894
Chartered in Middletown
Stone Square Lodge No. 22 is chartered in Middletown, Delaware. The lodge holds its first meetings in the Rhoades House, at the corner of Lake Street and Jefferson.
- 1955
A Home Given Up for the Community
After the Louis L. Redding Comprehensive High School is built, the lodge vacates its meeting place to make room for students, putting the education of the community ahead of its own comfort.
- 1950s to 1990s
The Mount Calvary Years
When several area churches are unable to host them, Mount Calvary Baptist Church, at 300 New Street, welcomes Stone Square into its basement. The brethren take pride in the building, re-paneling the basement and furnishing a dining area, and support the church through their rent for decades.
- 1993
The Search for a Permanent Home
Under Worshipful Master Randolph Reed, Senior Warden Abram Watson, Junior Warden Clarence Saunders, Treasurer Walter Boardly Jr., and Acting Secretary Brother William Saunders, the lodge forms a Property Search Committee and sets out to find a home of its own.
- 1994
208 East Lake Street
In June, Senior Warden Watson and his wife make a down payment at a sheriff's sale on a property at 208 East Lake Street. Brother Ernest Saunders and his wife secure a loan to complete the purchase, which the craft later repays in full.
- 1995
Building Our Lodge Home
In the spring, the brethren begin renovating the new lodge home. It remains the home of Stone Square Lodge No. 22 to this day.
Carrying It Forward
The brothers who came before us met in borrowed rooms and church basements, and still they served their community faithfully for generations. We are the keepers of what they built. Every meeting, every scholarship, every plate served at a fundraiser is one more stone laid on a foundation more than 130 years deep.