Past Masters 1870 - 1894
Early History of Fellowship Lodge #345
In the latter part of 1869, James Bolen and some of the other members of the Carthage Lodge, having moved to Fidelity, Missouri, desired to have a lodge of their own. They had to first get recommendations from the Carthage Lodge and the District Deputy Grand Master. Having achieved that they then petitioned the Grand Master, M.W. Brother William D. Muir, for a dispensation.
Normally, the request for dispensation of a new lodge would have included its desired name. For example, the lodges in most other towns typically named their lodge after the town name. In that tradition the petitioners were inclined to name it “Fidelity Lodge.” But R.W. Brother J. C. Gaston induced them to leave, on the petition, the name blank, and instead to ask that the Grand Secretary, R.W. Brother Frank Gouley, give it some “good masonic name.” They did so, and when the dispensation of the Grand Master came out on January 1, 1870 it bore the name of “Fellowship Lodge #345.”
A. W. Gibson
S.H. Caldwell
J. W. Brock
James A. Bowlin
M. H. Patrick
Rueben Whitwell
Lodge Relocated to Joplin, Missouri
It wasn’t long afterward that the booming community of early Joplin was attracting a lot of masons, including those from Fidelity. A petition to create a new lodge in Joplin was declined by the Grand Master, who believed that there was already enough lodges in the state. Their only recourse was to petition a nearby lodge to move to Joplin. And in that vein the members of Fellowship Lodge #345 had a special meeting on December 13, 1873 and thirteen brothers voted to move the lodge to Joplin: two were opposed. The dispensation of the Grand Master M.W. Brother R. E. Anderson occurred on February 19, 1874. After its move, Rueben Whitwell was the first Worshipful Master of Fellowship Lodge (as situated in Joplin).
W. E. Maynard
J. C. Gaston
C. Graycraft
T. J. Patterson
J. S. Reynolds
J. C. Faulkender
H. W. Barnes
H. W. Picher
Business Leaders
Many of the Masters of Fellowship Lodge #345 were also business leaders of the day. For instance, Henry W. Picher was a co-founder of the Picher Lead Company with his brother, Oliver Hazard Picher. The brother’s son, Oliver, would become the first president of the Eagle Picher Corporation, a merger of the Eagle Paint Company and Picher Lead Company.
W. R. Fletcher
R. S. Lanyon
P. L. Crossman
E. C. H. Squire
Dr. E. C. H. Squire, MD wrote the first history of Fellowship Lodge in 1902. The historical references of this website from 1869 through 1902 were taken from his work, “Fellowship Lodge No. 345 A. F. & A. M. From 1870 to 1902 a History”.