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Lodge History

Beverly Hills Lodge No. 528 was chartered in 1922. The tract of land on which Beverly Hills stands was subdivided and placed on the market in 1907. The Federal census of 1920 showed but 670 people. It was not until 1921 that the first suggestion was made that a Masonic Lodge be formed. Most of the residents had their places of business in Los Angeles and commuted on the Pacific Electric Railway. The railway station was located on the same street as the police station. During the summer of 1921, Chief of Police Charles C. Blair made it a regular habit to stop those whom he knew to be Masons and urge upon them the desirability of forming a Lodge in Beverly Hills. At first the response was slow, but as the weeks went by and Chief Blair stuck to his guns, interest began to increase. Finally, on December 15, I921, twenty-two Masons met in a real estate office for the first preliminary meeting. Most of them were mature men whose membership was in other jurisdictions, and no one in the gathering had ever held office. None of them was familiar with the ritualistic work or lectures, and everybody had to build from the ground up. 

 

 

Beverly Hills Lodge held its first meeting under dispensation at Hollywood Masonic Temple on May 25, I922, with the following charter members: James Albert Cornelius, Master; Albert Leo Charles Hitchen, Senior Warden; Raymond Edwin Hitt, junior Warden; Bert James Firminger, Charles Frederick Nelson, Karl Bradford Schurz, Edward Edmundson Spence, Charles A. Cheatham, William B. Hunnewell, Laurence Allen Blaisdell, Harry Earl Teazle, Ernest Henry Hobden, Eugene DeHart Barton, Myron Buck Horton, Clifton B. Duncan, Orman Edgar McCartney, Albert James Oatway, George M. Russell, Harvey L. Webb, Charles C. Blair, Frank Greene Denison, Leland Parker Reeder, Arthur William Moore, Charles Henry Siegel, and William Augustus Reeder. 

 

Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., was made a Mason in this Lodge in 1925 

 

Edward R. (Hoot) Gibson, the cowboy actor, was raised in 1926. Through a confusion in dates, one of the workers, Henry B. Walthall, drove over 3oo miles from June Lake, in Mono County, where he was spending a vacation, only to find he was a week ahead of time. He returned to June Lake and a week later again drove down to Lodge, participated in the work, and drove back again. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the most active of the Masons of this Lodge is Frank Harwell, Jr., vice-president of Lester and Company. He was raised in Beverly Hills Lodge in May, 1929, and was its Master in I935. He was appointed Inspector in October, 1936, and Trustee of the Masonic Homes in October, 1946. He resigned both of these positions to become Assistant Grand Lecturer on April 19, 1948 then he became the Grand Master in 1953. Born Oct. 4, 1898, died Jan. 25, 1966.
 

 

 

 

Chartered by

Grand Lodge of California

1111 California Street 
San Francisco, CA 94108 
415/776-7000



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