Our Lodge History

Indian River Lodge # 90 Free and Accepted Masons was chartered on January 20, 1886 in Titusville Florida and was named for Indian River which runs the entire length of Brevard County. It is the only Florida lodge to be assigned the number 90 and is still actively meeting in Titusville.

Indian Rivers charter members were:

Samuel H. Ray

Andrew Frosher

Charles R. Carlin

M.O. Burnham

William R Sanders

William S. Norwood

William B. Smith

Freasley J. Mendel

The first Worshipful Master of the lodge was brother Alexander A. Stewart. Worshipful Brother Stewart was born December 20, 1840 near Jasper, Florida. Brother Stewart was a Lieutenant in the Confederate Army and moved to Brevard county after the Civil War. In 1871, he was appointed the Clerk of the Court in Brevard County and served until 1912. Brother Stewart died March 9, 1922 and is buried at Oaklawn Memorial Gardens in Titusville.

The lodge first me in the old two-story framed courthouse built in 1881 on Palm Avenue. This was just north of the Sheriff’s residence and jail. When the Indian River Hotel was built around 1886, later to be known as the Dixie Hotel, the lodge moved in and met there for some time while the Masonic Hall was being built on the northwest corner of Julia Street and Hopkins Avenue. This was just north of the Magnolia Theater, which is now known as the Emma Parrish Theater.

The Masonic Hall was completed in 1905 and dedicated by the Grand Master of Florida, Most Worshipful Thomas B. Hutchinson. Meeting were held here until it burned down in 1915. After this, the lodge moved to the second floor of the Scobie Building, later known as Ford Hardware, on US 1 in downtown Titusville. Meeting were held here for several years until the lodge moved to an area above the Davis Drug Store located at Julia Street and US 1 and then to the third floor of Bayview Elementary School, on the future site of Titusville City Hall. Lodge meetings were held here until 1953, when construction was completed on the current lodge building located at the corner of Garden Street and US 1.

Indian River Lodge #90 was very active in our community from it’s very beginning and still is today with over 265 members.

With over 100 years of Masonic History, we are proud to have been honored with 13 District Deputy Grand Masters:

George Scobie – 1922

W.B. Kimble – 1941-1943

L.C. Stewart – 1947

James L. Carlile – 1954

Ronald V. Bakas – 1961

Robert W. Moyer – 1970

Gerald H. Powell – 1973

Gary B. Cull – 1980

James A. Johns – 1988

Thomas T. Corbin – 1993

D. Lamar Surrency – 1995

William P. Macken – 2001

Roger K. Paul – 2003

Gregory L. Davis - 2007