Kildare Masonic Lodge building approaching its 145th anniversary

Cass County has a second historic building that complements its Cass County Courthouse, the longest continually operating courthouse in Texas.

The building is the Jim’s Bayou Masonic Lodge 491, Grand Lodge of Texas, AF&AM. Rising stately on its hill in Kildare, the lodge is approaching its 145th birthday this year. Texas was just 33 years old itself when the lodge was built in 1878.

The building was erected jointly by the Kildare Baptist Church and the Masonic lodge. It would be the central and tallest building in the community.

The building’s State Historical Medallion expresses it eloquently.

“One of the first buildings constructed in Kildare; now the oldest existing one in town.”

The church and lodge met in the same building and mostly served the same people.

Once when a bell was given to toll from the high white building, the two entities could not agree who owned it. When in 1959 the church decided to move, the church gave the bell to the lodge and ordered its own new one.

The church and lodge buildings even now are only yards apart. The two bells are so close to one another they probably would harmonize if clanged together.

A Methodist Church was once nearby, and the two churches for a time met together on alternate Sundays. The Methodist church building was closed in the 1950s.

The lodge building has been in continuous use since 1878. It is made of heart cypress, selected for extreme durability. The builders were Skillman and Bricker. Today, visiting the impressive building seems like stepping back in time.

Kildare is a community that puzzles. Once a vibrant community, it was a depot town busy with all the stores and services needed so one almost never had to leave. Its train passed through a deep gorge which had an arching wooden bridge, a favorite meeting place for conversation.

Its tall white church and lodge stood on its highest hill and looked out across iron ore mountains. It could be seen from far away.

Kildare was organized in 1872. In its time, it had a cotton gin, sawmill, dentists, doctors, schools and all. If residents wanted to go into Atlanta for a change or entertainment, they just boarded the Texas & Pacific Railroad to ride into the city of Atlanta, see a movie and rode back that evening.

People traveled here first by horse and buggy and then by motor vehicle along the Farm to Market Roads 125 or 248. Of course, so many things would be delivered for loading onto the railroad. One of the biggest was iron ore from the area.

Today the town has vacant buildings, but also some nicely kept homes, a community center and a peaceful, well cared for cemetery.

The lodge is still gleaming white and still in operation, meeting at 7:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month. The community post office is also nearby. But trains and cars speed past without a pause and not a whistle blown.

The streets are laid out in rectangular blocks thanks to the railroad draftsmen. What’s left of Kildare is to be remembered.

In its way, one of Texas’ oldest Masonic lodges is as interesting and impressive as the county courthouse just 8.6 miles away in Linden.

Photo by Neil Abeles ■ Jim’s Bayou Masonic Lodge 491, Grand Lodge of Texas, AF&AM, rising tall on its hill in Kildare, Texas, was one of the first and now oldest buildings in Kildare. It is also one of the state’s oldest Masonic Lodges.

■ At left, this was the first bell given to both the Masonic Lodge and Kildare Baptist Church after it was built in 1878. When the church moved to its own structure in 1959, the bell remained at the lodge.

Photos by Neil Abeles ■ The blue and gold Masonic symbol, above, is a compass and square centered with the letter “G.” The letter’s meaning varies. It could be “God” or “Geometry” or stand for the tools of the Great Architect of the Universe.

Photos by Neil Abeles ■ Kildare’s Masonic Lodge hall and First Baptist Church building, dating back to 1878, was recorded as a Texas Historic Landmark in 1969.