A History of Amber Lodge

Amber Lodge No. 395, Parishville, New York

Dispensation:

Warrant: 25 January 1856

Amber Lodge held its first meeting on October 12, 1850 with Leavitt Hatch, Master; Samuel Lincoln, Senior Warden; and Ebenezer C. Culver, Junior Warden.

In 1923, fire destroyed the Lodge and all the records. The Lodge was rebuilt in Parishville and dedicated on Tuesday, October 9, 1923. The Potsdam Herald-Recorder gives this description of the event.

Amber Lodge sponsored the fireworks display for the Parishville Bicentennial celebration on July 26, 2014. The display was paid for by donations from Masonic organizations in St. Lawrence County, members of Amber Lodge, and proceeds from fund raisers such as participating in the Parishville Town-wide Yard Sale for the proceeding three years. It was a grand display and several people remarked that it was the best they had seen in many years.

In 2016 to 2019, the Lodge undertook a renovation project. The first step was to remove the three trees from the front of the building. This cleared the branches from contacting the power line going to the adjacent Post Office building and opened space around the flag pole so it could again be used.

The second year included replacing the single pane windows on the second floor with more modern insulated windows and the old composite shingles were covered with vinyl siding. While our contractor had a lift on site to do the second floor work, we got a new halyard installed on the flag pole and added a solar powered spot light on the Square and Compasses emblem on the front of the building.

The last phase of the project was painting the roof, replacing the windows on the first floor, upgrading the electrical wiring to current code standards, and landscaping the front and sides of the building.