Alexandria-Washington Lodge No. 22

Alexandria-Washington Lodge No. 22. Alexandria Lodge No. 39 at Alexandria, Virginia was warranted by the Provincial Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania (Ancient) on Feb. 3, 1783. It was constituted on the 25th of that month and has been in continuous existence ever since that date. The Grand Lodge of Virginia having been formed, Oct. 13, 1778, the Lodge withdrew from Pennsylvania obedience and received a Virginia charter under date of April 28, 1788. George Washington (with his personal consent) was named Master in the Virginia charter. In 1804, Grand Lodge approved the change of name to Alexandria-Washington Lodge No. 22.

The town of Alexandria became a part of the District of Columbia when the latter was formed in 1788-1791. The Virginia area was, however, retroceded to the Commonwealth by act of Congress in 1846. Meanwhile, the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia was organized, Feb. 19, 1811. Alexandria-Washington Lodge declined to join in this movement, largely because it again did not wish to give up its Virginia charter bearing the name of Washington as Master. The unusual situation of a Virginia lodge in the territorial jurisdiction of the District of Columbia ended with the retrocession of that territory to Virginia in 1846. The warranting from Pennsylvania of Alexandria Lodge No. 39 in Virginia in 1783, five years after the Grand Lodge of Virginia had been formed, was due to the derangement of business incident to the closing of the Revolutionary W*r and the relocation of the capital to Richmond.

From early in the 1800’s, Alexandria-Washington Lodge met in its own quarters constructed with the consent of the Common Hall as an addition to the Alexandria Market House. This was destroyed by fire in 1871 with the loss of many valuable relics, though a large number of mementoes were saved. The hall was immediately rebuilt and served as the lodge’s home until the lodge removed to its present quarters in the George Washington Masonic National Memorial, where its most important relics are now on display in the ”replica Lodge room,” which is a reproduction of the room used in the time of Washington. Thousands of visitors view the mementoes annually.

Macoy Collector's Note: The defining lodge of American Masonic heritage. Its steadfast refusal to give up the charter bearing George Washington's name preserved an irreplaceable piece of history.