On St. Patrick's Day, Masonic members of the Golden City Lodge at 400 10th Street retrieved a historical document during their spring cleaning.
Past Master Byron Walker found a well-kept declaration from the Grand Lodge of Ireland, the second oldest established Masonic lodge in the long history of the Free Mason's fraternal heritage.
“How it ended up in our chapter lodge, I don't know,” Walker said.
The correspondence is a recognition of the Grand Lodge of Colorado, hand signed by the Deputy Grand Secretary on Dec. 13, 1905.
“We are desirous to establish a Fraternal Correspondence with the Grand Lodge of Colorado to the end that the most amicable relations may be observed between the Brethren of our Order in Colorado, USA and in Ireland,” the document reads.
The Grand Lodge of Ireland is the second oldest Masonic lodge in the world with evidence of is existence dating back to 1725, although there are manuscripts which point to earlier Irish meetings in the 16th century.
Members of the Golden City Lodge will discuss what to do with the document but Walker said the Grand Lodge of Colorado, located in Colorado Springs, will be part of the discussions.
“We're right on the ground floor with the history of Colorado,” Walker said.
The history begins in 1858 when the Golden City Lodge was charted under the Grand Lodge of the Territory of Kansas.
In 1860, the Colorado Territory was established and the Grand Lodge of Colorado was formed and took jurisdiction over the smaller Masonic lodges that were scattered throughout the territory.
The meeting which formed the Grand Lodge of Colorado was held in Golden City now known as Golden. Since Golden City held the oldest charter, the Golden City Lodge was designated as Golden City Lodge No. 1.
Since then, the Golden City Lodge has held historic ties in Golden including its members who are celebrated residents such as G.W. Parfet.
“I just thought it was so wonderful to come across this document on St. Pat's Day and to recover it from the dusty archives and bring it out to light,” Walker said. “It's just part of our history and heritage.”
