Phoenix Lodge No. 262, Gowanda, New York


WARRANT: The warrant in possession of the Lodge is dated June 16, 1852.
Phoenix Lodge was organized during the autumn of 1851; on November 14th a petition was prepared asking for a dispensation and signed by the following:

Elias Hall
E. McMillan
A. L. Chaffee
William S. Herrick
James Locke
Josiah Cass
Samuel Aiken
David D. Parker
Dan Allen
George H. Hall
   

The petition nominated as officers:

Elias Hall
William S. Herrick
David D. Parker
Master
Senior Warden
Junior Warden
   

and was recommended by Hanover Lodge. No. 152


On November 28. 1851, a dispensation was issued by NELSON RANDALL, Deputy Grand Master. The first meeting under the dispensation was held December 8th. In selecting a meeting place and time of meeting the following was adopted: "RESOLVED, That our regular meetings be held in Gowanda, and for the present in the Odd Fellows Hall on Tuesday of the full of the moon or the first after, and also in two weeks from the meeting at or after the full of the moon at 2 o'clock P.M." The Lodge continued to meet regularly until the warrant was issued in June. The first meeting under the warrant was held August 3, 1852, when the Lodge was constituted and the following officers installed by W\ ALBERT H. CAMP, Past Master of Hanover Lodge, No. 152:

Elias Hall
William S. Herrick
David D. Parker
James Locke
Amasa L. Chaffee
Samuel Aiken
Josiah Case
George H. Hall

Master
Senior Warden
Junior Warden
Treasure
Secretary
Senior Deacon
Junior Deacon
Tiler

   

CHARTER MEMBERS

Elias Hall
Ephraim McMillan
Amasa L. Chaffee
William H. Herrick.
James Locke
Samuel Aiken
David D. Parker
George H. Hall
   

The first meeting place was in Odd Fellows Hall (now known as the Crawford Annex), where it remained until November, 1884, when it moved into its present quarters, which were dedicated by M\W\ WILLIAM A. BRODIE, Grand Master. In reporting this affair the District Deputy Grand Master, LAURENS G. RIPLEY, spoke of it as a most notable event. "The four hundred guests who assembled to witness the ceremonies, conducted by the Grand Master assisted by other members of the Grand Lodge, and who afterward gathered around the bounteous table spread in the adjoining Opera House, will abundantly testify as to the liberal and brotherly greeting extended to the visiting Brethren."
Elias Hall, the founder of the Lodge and its first Master, was made a Mason in 1802 in the State of New Hampshire. When Phoenix Lodge was organized he was seventy-three years of age. He died, September 2, 1868. The Lodge was represented at the laying of the corner-stone of the Home at Utica. NY, May 21, 1891; the dedication of same, October 5, 1892; the dedication of the Masonic Temple at Salamanca, NY, September 12, 1905, and the dedication of the Masonic
Temple at Dunkirk, N. Y.