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The ''Grand Lodge of North Dakota,'' formally known as the Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free & Accepted Masons of North Dakota, is the governing body of the largest group of masonic lodges in North Dakota. It follows the Anglo-American tradition of Freemasonry common in the United States. ==Early history== The first known Mason to set foot upon the rich and verdant soil of what would eventually become North Dakota was Meriwether Lewis, a member of Saint Louis Lodge No. 111 of Missouri.〔Harold Sackett Pond, Masonry in North Dakota, 1964〕 The first lodge in Dakota was created by the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Iowa on April 27, 1862, when Thomas H. Benton, Jr., Grand Master, issued a dispensation to T. J. Dewitt; A. G. Fuller; M. R. Luse, and seven others to open Dakota Lodge at Fort Randall.〔Charles E. Gillett, "The American Rite (Second Meridian, II)," in History of the Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons and Concordant Orders, ed. Henry L. Stillson and William James Hughan (London: Fraternity Publishing Co., 1892), 369 〕 Dakota Lodge's dispensation was apparently not renewed,〔Gillet at 369〕 but by 1875 the Grand Lodge of Iowa had chartered six more lodges in Dakota: Saint John's Lodge No. 166 at Yankton, Incense Lodge No. 257 at Vermillion, Elk Point Lodge No. 288, Minnehaha Lodge No. 328 at Sioux Falls, Silver Star Lodge No. 345 at Canton, and Mount Zion Lodge No. 346 at Springfield. All of these lodges were located in what would eventually become South Dakota. In the northern part of the territory, meanwhile, the Grand Lodge of Minnesota had chartered two lodges: Shiloh Lodge No. 105 at Fargo and Bismarck Lodge U.D. On June 22, 1875 five of these lodges (Saint John's, Incense, Elk Point, Minnehaha, and Silver Star) convened at Elk Point and voted to form a grand lodge. The next day the convention adopted a constitution and code of by-laws and elected T. H. Brown as the first Grand Master. Later that day, after the remaining necessary business was concluded, the brethren adjourned to the Baptist church where the officers of the Grand Lodge of Dakota were installed by Theodore S. Parvin, Past Grand Master of Iowa.〔Gillett at 370〕 Mount Zion, Shiloh, and Bismarck did not participate. This created - or revealed - a difficulty with regard to Shiloh and Bismarck, they having been chartered by the Grand Lodge of Minnesota instead of Iowa, but things were eventually worked out and those two lodges soon came into the fold, along with Mount Zion.〔 Lodges began to grow in the north as well as in the south. On June 9, 1880, the Grand Lodge issued charters to a number of lodges, among them Pembina Lodge No. 10, Casselton Lodge No. 12, and Acacia Lodge No. 15, at Grand Forks. On June 11, 1889, at the 15th annual session of the Grand Lodge of Dakota, the Grand Master〔He was not present; his address was read by the Grand Secretary〕 reported that Congress was preparing to divide the territory and create the states of North and South Dakota. The Grand Master appointed a committee to study the matter. The committee met and reported back immediately with the following suggestion:〔Either the same day or the next; the reference is unclear. Gillett at 371〕 There were 73 lodges at the time in southern Dakota and 26 in the north. The committee took an inventory of Grand Lodge property, "was pleased to state that their work The North Dakota lodges, having met and held elections on June 12,〔 they were then installed, George V. Ayres being the first Grand Master of North Dakota. The Grand Lodge of Dakota presented the officers of the new Grand Lodge of Dakota with jewels of office as a tender and unexpected gift, and the Grand Lodge of Dakota was then closed in ample form〔"Ample form" is a masonic usage which means the body was personally opened or, as in this case, closed by the Grand Master himself.〕 and ceased to be on June 13, 1889.〔Gillett at 373〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Grand Lodge of North Dakota」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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