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HISTORY OF GAFFNEY LODGE #186 A.F.M.  THE HISTORY OF GRANARD LODGE #186
In July 1874, eight members of Pacolet Lodge #150 AFM gave an application to S. Samuel Knight, District Deputy Grand Master of the Second Masonic District, requesting dispensation to establish a lodge in Gaffney. This was cheerfully endorsed and forwarded on to the Grand Master of Masons in South Carolina. The account reads “Joseph B. Kershaw, Most Worshipful Grand Master of Ancient Free Masons of South Carolina, after receiving the petition and found a constitutional number of brethren who have been regularly vouched for and recommended and was desirous of establishing a new lodge at Gaffney, granted their dispensation on August 11, 1874, and authorizing and empowering Brother R.M. Gaffney to act as Worshipful Master, Brother J.R. Webster to act as Senior Warden, and Brother Nathan Lipscomb to act as Junior Warden of a lodge, to be held under his jurisdiction at Gaffney and to be known as Granard Lodge. He further authorized and empowered the said brethren to enter, pass and raise free masons according to the Ancient Constitution of the Order.” At the 98th Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge of Ancient Free Masons in South Carolina, held in Charleston on December 8th and 9th , 1874, the committee on charters and dispensations recommended that a charter be granted to Granard Lodge. On December 9, 1874, Grand Lodge granted a warrant of Constitution to Granard Lodge, making it the 186th lodge chartered in South Carolina. In 1874, Gaffney was still just a cross roads, but with the building of a railroad line near Gaffney’s Crossroads and a depot, the center of activities shifted from Limestone Springs to the nearby railroad line. On March 3, 1875 the general assembly of South Carolina by a special act incorporated the town of Gaffney and made it an official town. Gaffney then held it’s first elections and elected J.R. Webster as Mayor and R.M. Gaffney, Nathan Lipscomb, Travis Davenport, and B.K. Humphries as the first councilmen. Brothers J.W. Webster, R.M. Gaffney and Nathan Lipscomb were also the first elected officers of Granard Lodge #186 AFM. It would be 22 years later before Cherokee County was created from sections of Spartanburg, Union and York counties. The first eight members of Granard Lodge were Joseph G. Gaffney, R.M. Gafffney, J.R. Webster, Nathan Lipscomb, A. Kinnett, James Brown, Nathan R. Littlejohn and H.H. Littlejohn. Joseph G. Gaffney was the son of Michael Gaffney, the founder of the town of Gaffney. R. M. Gaffney was his grandson. Granard Lodge was so named in honor of the birthplace of Michael Gaffney, Granard, Ireland, in the county of Longford. Granard Lodge #186 held their meetings for the first five years in one of the rooms of what was then known as the Shuck House and afterwards at the Lipscomb Hotel. The lodge then held its meetings, for one year, in Carey Hall, which was a one-story building that required guards be placed outside to guard against Cowans and Eavesdroppers. From Carey Hall, they moved to a barn on the county jail lot and fitted up a lodge room in the upper story and met there several years. As the craft grew, they moved again, this time to the upper story of an old shop at the back of J.D. Goudelock’s store on Robinson Street until in 1890 over the stores of T.G. McCraw and L.G. Byars in the Carroll & Stacy block, at the corner of Granard and Robinson streets. The location of all the meeting places of Granard Lodge over the years have been lost to time. The present Masonic Lodge is located at 219 E. Floyd Baker Blvd. The two-story brick building was built in 1954 and is shared by four Masonic bodies; Granard Lodge #186 AFM, Lafayette Lodge #330 AFM, Queen Ester Chapter #139 of the Eastern Star and The Gaffney York Rite Bodies. we are proud that Granard lodge has been a part of the history of Gaffney from the beginning. On 1 January 2004 Granard Lodge #186 AFM merged with Lafayette Lodge #330 AFM to make a new lodge and renamed the lodge Gaffney Lodge #186 AFM.  THE HISTORY OF LaFAYETTE LODGE # 330 On 23 Febuary1921, The Grand Lodge of South Carolina granted a warrant of Constitution to Lafayette Lodge, making it the 330th lodge chartered in South Carolina. Lafayette Lodge then held it’s first elections and elected Brother Walter Caroll Taylor as Worshipful Master, Brother Charles Dennis Medows as Senior Warden, and Brother Marien Walter Belue as Junior Warden. Lafayette Lodge shared the lodge building with three other Masonic bodies; Granard Lodge #186 AFM, Queen Ester Chapter #139 of the Eastern Star and The Gaffney York Rite Bodies. The Grand Lodge Officers in 1921 were Right Worshipful Brother Samuel T. Lanham Grand Master of Masons of South Carolina, Right Worshipful Brother W.J. Campbell Bissell Deputy Grand Master, Right Worshipful Brother Charles K. Chreitzberg Senior Grand Warden, Right Worshipful Brother Charlton Durant Junior Grand Warden, Right Worshipful Brother Jessie Sharpe Grand Treasurer, Right Worshipful Brother O. Frank Hart Grand Secretary. On 1 January 2004 Lafayette Lodge #330 AFM merged with Granard Lodge #186 AFM to make a new lodge and renamed the lodge Gaffney Lodge#186 AFM.
This web site has been approved by The Grand Lodge of Ancient Free Masons of South Carolina Most Worshipful Brother Gerald L.Carver, Grand Master of Masons in South Carolina. |
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