Slightly less than 8 years after the formation of the Grand Lodge of Wisconsin, the first Masonic meeting was held in the Village of East Troy. It was on March 16, 1851; the Village was nearly fifteen years old. A meeting was held in the Odd Fellows Hall by six Master Masons for the purpose of forming a new Lodge. The Worshipful Master for this meeting was Lot Kayo, who was a member of Harmony Lodge 112and would later serve as the first Worshipful Master of St. James Lodge while under dispensation and later served in the same capacity for Elkhorn Lodge #77. At that first meeting in East Troy, the date for future meetings was set at the Thursday on or before the full moon.
The first meeting of St. James Lodge #41under the Charter granted by the Grand Lodge of Masons in Wisconsin was not until July 14, 1853. The presiding Worshipful Master was Hiram Medberry.
While a complete transcript of our Lodges’ history would be far to time-consuming to be included here, the following is a summary of some of the more interesting events:
June 12, 1851 First By-Laws were approved
Sept. 4, 1851 First degree (EA)given by our Lodge to J.A.Crouch
May 23, 1853 Grand Lecturer conducted our first School of Instruction
March 17, 1863 Silver officers jewels were purchased, which we still have
Oct. 2, 1863 A funeral service was conducted for Past Master Hiram Medberry which included internment
April 19, 1865 Our building was draped in mourning for our assassinated President, Abraham Lincoln
Over the years our Lodge has met in four different locations. The first was the Odd Fellow’s Hall situated above the current Pro Hardware Store. Meetings were held there from 1851 to 1881 and our rent was $36.00 per year. In 1881 we moved to the Meadows Building, now the Western Auto store. In 1986 our meetings were held in the Deist Building and in 1916 we moved once again. This time to the second floor in the Dickerman Building, now Tripco. We continued to meet there until 1946 when we purchased the Deist Building which is our current location. [Date not known.]
Several members of the Lodge of note were James Fowler who was a seventy-seven year member. William G Keats was an early member that served the Lodge faithfully for many years in several capacities. He also constructed someofthe Lodge furniture which is still in use. Paul Swartz served the Lodge as Secretary from 1888 to 1932, an incredible span of44 years. And A M Perry, the first Master Mason raised by St. James Lodge and the father of William W Perry, who went on to serve the Grand Lodge as Grand Master and Grand Secretary.
Other activities of our Lodge in the early years were the passage of a resolution on February 28, 1891 to allow someof our members to establish a new Lodge. That new Lodge became Laflin Lodge of Mukwonago. Also on January 24, 1891, the Lodge granted permission to a group of Ladies to use the Lodge for meetings. Those meetings established Vesper Chapter, OES.
In more modern times, the members of our Lodge have taken the tenant of Charity beyond the Masonic Family and into the community. We have provided $200.00 scholarships to East Troy High School graduates since 1979. We currently house the East Troy Food Pantry in our basement rent-free. Though the Pantry is required to reimburse the Lodge for utility expenses, the Lodge has seen fit to waive these payments during most of their residence here.
Other charitable activities have included the donation of the American Flag that flies over the East Troy Elementary School, donations to the local fire, rescue and ambulance departments, the Junior Dairymen’s Association, and we were the only Lodge in Walworth County to donate funds to the Walworth County War Memorial.
Our Lodge has also honored several of our current members in recent years. They have included Past Master Donald Cole and Past Master Virgil Whitmore on their fiftieth anniversary as a Past Master of our Lodge. We cosponsored a recognition party for Past Master Everett Desing for his many contributions to many local organizations and to the Community.
In 1977 we began an annual social gathering with the local chapter of the Knights of Columbus. This event has become a highlight of each year.
Our members have also spent a great many hours attending to the beauty of our Lodge building. The lower level, which became Fellowship Hall, was once a hardware store. The second floor lobby was once our dining hall.