Menomonie Free and Accepted Masons celebrate 150 years of service to Dunn County

by Rev. Craig Conklin 

On Sunday, June 11, 2017 members, family and friends of Menomonie Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons #164 gathered with the help of Grand Lodge Officers of Wisconsin to rededicate the Menomonie Lodge on its 150th Anniversary.

The founding of the Menomonie Lodge happened on the heels of the harvest of the vast pine forests of the region. John H. Knapp of the Stout Knapp Company plus eleven other Masons requested dispensation to form the Menomonie Lodge holding their first Lodge meeting on Tuesday, June 11, 1867. Seventy three years later the Colfax Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons #334 surrendered their charter and joined with the Menomonie Lodge. This happened again in 2004 when the members of the Glenwood City Lodge #264 also surrendered their charter and became part of the Menomonie Lodge. Today the Menomonie Lodge is the only Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons in Dunn County.

The Menomonie Lodge meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month. The current officers of the Lodge are Scott Carstens, Worshipful Master, Donald Schwartz, Senior Warden and Bruce Fransway, Junior Warden. For more information about Free Masonry in Wisconsin Google Free Masons of Wisconsin or you can email the Menomonie Lodge at lodge164@wwt.net.