Victoria Lodge No. 56 - Sarnia, Ontario - Established 1854

Meeting Info

First Tuesday at 7:30pm

Closed July and August

Location

Sarnia Lodge Hall, 245 Essex Street, Sarnia, Ontario

Contact

Victoria Secretary

The place where Lake Huron empties into the St. Clair River was called The Rapids by the English settlers, and Les Chutes by the French. In 1836 it was given the name Port Sarnia. Pine Grove Lodge No. 11 (Grand Register of Michigan) welcomed and initiated men from Sarnia. Some Masons from afar settled in and around Sarnia. Travel to London or St. Thomas to attend lodge was too far until the railway arrived in 1859.

Victoria Lodge, Port Sarnia, received a dispensation from R. W. Brother Sir Allan Napier MacNab, Provincial Grand Master of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Canada West in 1854 and was instituted on June 10, 1854. Provincial Warrant No. 47 was issued on July 19, 1854. The Lodge was registered with United Grand Lodge of England and received Warrant No. 950 bearing the date August 20, 1855. On September 9, 1857, in Toronto, the Provincial Grand Lodge of Canada West dissolved and formed itself into the Ancient Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Canada with M. W. Bro. Sir Allan Macnab as Grand Master. All subordinate Lodges, including Victoria, were required to surrender their Warrants and received dispensations to work under the new Grand Lodge, Victoria’s being dated September 10, 1857. Victoria continued to be numbered as “47" on the register. When these two Grand Lodges were united on July 14, 1858, Victoria Lodge affiliated with the Grand Lodge A.F. & A.M. of Canada, receiving a new dispensation dated July 14, 1858. At this time, it retained its original (Provincial and Ancient Grand Lodge) number of “47.” During the general renumbering of 1859 it was renumbered as No. 56. This 1859 dispensation or warrant was destroyed by fire sometime before March 28, 1867, and was replaced by a new Warrant bearing that date.

Victoria Lodge No. 56 has been Warranted under three Grand Lodges: Provincial Grand Lodge of Canada West, United Grand Lodge of England, and the Grand Lodge of Canada in the Province of Ontario.

The names of early members of Victoria Lodge are remembered in the names of streets in Sarnia: Vidal, Cameron, Mackenzie, Durand, and Mitton. Victoria Lodge No. 56 has supported the growth of Freemasonry in Sarnia by contributing to the formation of Moore Lodge No. 294, Point Edward Lodge No. 419 (now Liberty Lodge), Tuscan Lodge No. 437, and St. Paul Lodge No. 601.

During its existence, eleven members of Victoria Lodge have served as Mayor of Sarnia; five have served as Warden of Lambton County; eight have been parliamentary representatives, two have served as Ontario Judges, and several Chiefs of Police have been members.

Two members of Victoria Lodge No. 56 have gone on to be elected the Grand Master in other jurisdictions. M.W. Bro. Alexander Barclay Taylor was made a Mason in Victoria Lodge No. 56 in 1880. He worked for Great Western Railway, the Grand Trunk Railway, and the Northern Pacific Railway. Though born in London, and working for a while in Sarnia, he also worked in Philadelphia and eventually settled in Fargo, North Dakota. Having entered our Fraternity in Sarnia, he continued his Masonic career in North Dakota. M.W. Bro. Taylor served on the Finance Committee of the Grand Lodge of North Dakota for several years and was elected as the 28th Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of North Dakota for 1916 - 1917.

M.W. Bro. James J. Dunlop grew up in Sarnia. He became a Mason in Victoria Lodge No. 56 1876 and served as Secretary for a while. After high school, he became a jeweller, and eventually moved to Winnipeg for business purposes. He left Winnipeg for Edmonton and in 1900 took a position in the Land Titles Office for the remainder of his working life. He was elected the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Alberta for 1910 – 1911.

Victoria Lodge No. 56 has welcomed other Grand Masters as honourary members including M.W. Bro. Gary L. Atkinson (Grand Master of the Grand Lodge Canada in the Province of Ontario 2005 – 2007) and M.W. Bro. Peter Dunlop (Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Alberta 2011 – 2012).

The William Mercer Wilson Medal was created in 1945 to recognize longstanding extra-ordinary service in Masonry, as well as service in civic, community, and religious aspects of life. Bro. Clarence A. Atmore was presented with the William Mercer Wilson Medal in 1969.

On September 10, 2017, in the presence of the Grand Master, M.W. Bro. John C. Green, Tuscan Lodge amalgamated with Victoria Lodge, No. 56 of Sarnia. The warrant of Tuscan Lodge No. 437 was surrendered.

Victoria Lodge No. 56 meets on the first Tuesday of the month, September through June, at the Sarnia Masonic Hall, 245 Essex Street, Sarnia, Ontario.

And an earlier submission

Whence come we? A brief history.

In 1854, two years before Sarnia was a Town and twenty-two years before Confederation, Victoria Lodge No 56 planted its Masonic roots in the fertile soil of Lambton County. Having held its first meeting in Port Huron, Michigan, it moved to Port Sarnia on August 7, 1854 in what was known as Canada West.

Warranted as Victoria Lodge 950 on the E. C., it became Victoria 47 under the auspices of the Third Provincial Grand Lodge (PGL) of Canada and achieved the status of Victoria Lodge No 56 under the Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons in the Province of Ontario. This means that Victoria Lodge has worked under three Grand Lodges and was there in the midst of the foundation of what was to become the very Grand Lodge under which we all function to this day. Victoria’s original warrant, under the Third Provincial Grand Lodge, was actually signed by Sir Allan Napier McNab who was the first Prime Minister of Upper Canada in 1830. The original 1854 seal of Victoria Lodge is still in the Victoria Archives at the Masonic Hall in Sarnia. It bears the likeness of a young Queen Victoria.

Association with the founding fathers of Canada and Sarnia/Lambton was the norm for Victoria Lodge. It can proudly count as its first Master none other than William Penrose Vidal, a prominent lawyer in his time and whose name graces a well-known street in Sarnia. Thomas Forsythe, the first Mayor of Sarnia is also numbered among the brethren of this historic lodge of Freemasons and also has a street named after him. Other street names that are associated with Victoria Lodge and Masonry are Cameron, Mackenzie, Durand and Mitton. All in all, eleven Mayors have been members of Victoria Lodge as well as five Wardens of the County and eight members of parliament. Victoria Lodge can count among its brethren many of Lambton County’s founders who helped bring Sarnia to prominence through the years.

Indeed, the cornerstone of the Sarnia General Hospital was laid by the Masons of Victoria. The first Board of Directors of this institution was made up of Judge John H. Mackenzie, Charles Mackenzie and Dr. Thomas W. Johnston who were all members of Victoria Lodge. Dr. Johnston was also at one time, the Mayor of Sarnia. Victoria Lodge has also had a hand in the work of Grand Lodge over its history with thirty of its brethren wearing the gold and blue of Grand Lodge officers. We also take great pride in Bro. Clarence Atmore, our brother who was awarded theWilliam Mercer Wilson Award in 1969.

It is with considerable pride that Victoria Lodge looks back over its long and honourable history and recognises that certain of its brethren have contributed to the very foundations of many of our most cherished institutions and played substantial and active roles in the growth of Sarnia/Lambton. As it is today, in the new millennia, 150 years from its humble beginnings in Port Sarnia, it is safe to say that the roots of Victoria Lodge and Masonry are very deep and very well established. Even after a fire in 1867 that saw the destruction of its property and, most importantly its warrant, Victoria Lodge rose from the ashes of its misfortune to reassert itself as one of the foremost lodges in the SarniaDistrict and it continues to do so to this very day. It can truly be said that we are limited only by the degree of our own willingness to assure that Masonry continues to maintain as prominent a place as it has in the past in Sarnia Lambton. Victoria Lodge No 56 is very proud to have had the opportunity and consideration of its brethren to play such an esteemed role in Freemasonry in Sarnia for 150 years.

By W. Bro. Paul J. Pinel