About LiveStone Lodge 152
Prince Hall Free and Accepted Masons
The Most Worshipful Grand Master
of Prince Hall Masons in Texas Jurisdiction, J.W. McKinney, granted
dispensation to Livestone Masonic Lodge #152 on the 24th day of July,
1903.
Seeing the need of brotherhood and fraternity to bind our community
together, our Masonic forefathers petitioned the Grand Lodge of Texas
for a charter to open a Lodge. The following Worthy Master Masons reading
in the vicinity of Grand Prairie were involved in the petition to be
organized as a Lodge: L.C. Combs, J.R. Moore, Charles E. Swan, Henry
Williams, Joe Taylor, and Aaron Jones. These men were authorized and
empowered to open a Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons in the town of
Grand Prairie, County of Dallas Texas.
The Lodge building was originally
built for the newly formed Lodge in the vicinity of Antioch Baptist
Church and Cemetery, near the black community known as “The
Line”. “The Line” was so named because it was a row
of homesteads owned by recently freed slaves of area settlers and freedman
migrating to the area from southeastern Texas. The cemetery remains
at the location, at the now named Hardy Road and avenue D in the Lakeview
addition, but has now been renamed American Memorial Cemetery. Many
of the original African American residents of Grand Prairie are buried
in this cemetery.
At this site, the slaves that were freed following
the Civil War made a “colored” community.
The Lodge building was used by “The Line” residents for
many community, not just Lodge meetings. According to Mrs. Iola Reed
Smith, as documented on audiotape by Mrs. Ruthie Jackson, June 30,
1986, it was used as a schoolhouse and church. Mrs. Iola remembers
her school days at this building site. According to Mrs. Smith, the
Lodge Hall also originally housed the Evening Chapel A.M.E. Church
in the churches’ earlier days before the congregation could
secure their own building.
In 1944, the Lodge building was relocated
to the Dalworth community, and placed on land purchased from the Dalworth
Company for $200.00 dollars, at its present location at 18th St. and
Beaumont.
At the time that the building was relocated, a new cornerstone
was installed in the foundation, to the right of the front door. This
building cornerstone of white marble reads:
Livestone #152 F. & A.M.
Organized July 24, 1903
Laid by Metropolitan Lodge #146 F. & A.M.
July 22, 1945
The building served the Dalworth Community in multiple
ways, as it had when located at “The Line”. It served as
a community-meeting place, a social center, and again as a school.
For a couple of years, around 1944, while the Dalworth School was being
built, David Daniels conducted 6th and 7th grade classes in the upstairs
room of the Lodge. Box suppers and community socials were held in the
downstairs room periodically. And, while Lodge meetings were held in
the upstairs room, the first floor was used by members of the Dalworth
chapters of Eastern Star and the Heroines of Jericho (which were formed
by the Livestone Lodge) for their meetings and community events. According
to current members David Daniels and Sam Brown, some of the builders
of the Lodge were: Mose Jordan (Past Worshipful Master), M.G. Tallie,
Willie Shelton, Eddie Dance, Tom Dell, Leon Shelton, Charlie Dawson,
Charlie Reese, Harry Fisher, and Robert Shelton. Livestone Lodge has
had a major impact on its community throughout its history, both as
a physical structure and in the spirit of its members who have been
the leaders in the African American community of Grand Prairie.
