The oldest fraternal organization in Denton County

Meeting continuously in Denton since 1857            

Chartered in January 22nd, 1858                          

A Texas Historic Marker stands on the property of the First Christian Church on the corner of Fulton and Cordell streets in Denton. You can see it by parking in the church lot and following the sidewalk around to the Fulton St. side of the building. This marker states in part that the First Christian Church met in Stanfield Lodge from when it was founded in 1868 until 1876, when the church moved to its own building. This set me to wondering what other pioneer churches might have met at the lodge.

All of them did.

Because of its size, Stanfield Lodge was one of the most prominent buildings of Denton. Because it was the host of all the churches and schools of the town, it was one of the most prominent cultural centers.

The first lodge was built in 1859. "For twelve or fifteen years this lodge hall on 'Sand Street' [S. Elm St.] was the home of all the churches of Denton and the only schoolhouse that some of the children ever had.

Stanfield Lodge was first organized in 1857 and met in the county clerk's office in the courthouse, "and they held their meetings as nearly as possible at the time of the full moon of each month so the members could travel to and from the lodge in the moonlight.

In 1859 the lodge erected a two story heavy frame timber building on the west side of South Elm Street between Prairie and Highland streets. The heavy framing timbers were hewn from Denton County Oak; the lumber was hauled in from Wood County. This original site is on the same block as today's Lodge building at 316 W. Highland St.

In 1859, there were three two-story buildings in Denton: Stanfield Lodge, the courthouse and a hotel. By the end of the 1860s there were four, another hotel being added to the list.

The Lodge was used as a school from 1860 to 1880, with a few fits and starts as one school closed and another took its place. However, the gaps were few and small, and the children of Denton were educated continuously during those twenty years. In most cases, the school teachers were Masons themselves, and in nearly all cases they were hired and paid by the Lodge members.

Because there was only one meeting place, the school, churches and the town's general meetings had to "time-share" the Lodge's first floor. The second floor was reserved for Masonic purposes only. The school met on weekdays. General meetings were held at times which did not conflict with the school or church schedules (we assume), and the churches rotated Sundays.

The May 30, 1868 issue of the Denton Monitor newspaper "announced that the Methodists held their meetings on the first Sunday in each month [...]; the Cumberland Presbyterians met on the second Sunday [...]; the Christians met on the third Sunday [...]; and the Baptists met on the fourth Sunday [...]. Fifth Sundays seem to have been occupied by the Methodists. All of these meetings were held in the Masonic Hall.

By 1880 the Lodge began to lose favor as a meeting place. By then the school and churches had all moved to separate buildings. The Masons themselves met in the Piner building from 1880 to 1886, returning to meet in the old lodge from 1886 to 1894. Brother Piner was a prominent citizen, a Mason and heavily involved in the school. The Masonic Brothers moved to the Piner building "to secure a more central location," returning when "financial distress occasioned by the state-wide droth forced them to return to the old temple.

We can speculate that perhaps the old temple building lacked modern conveniences, such as indoor plumbing, gaslight or the newly emerging electric light. In the 1860s all of South Elm Street, Lodge and residences alike, drew their water from a single well. It is a certainty that the Lodge used an outdoor privy. It is a fact that Denton was plagued by fires in the early 1880s, so it may have been concern over fire safety that brought about the move. Due to the fire hazard, brick and stone began to replace wood building materials around this time.

Thus we see that Stanfield Lodge loomed large (both symbolically and literally) in the affairs of Denton, and it straddled the days from the early pioneers to the emergence of modern Denton like a giant in the town's and county's most essential affairs: A proud heritage.

Click on Square & Compass For Stanfield's History