The Grand Lodge of Ohio’s Masonic Heritage Museum is hosting a new exhibit on American Union Lodge, No. 1. The Museum plans to present temporary exhibits from each of Ohio’s six founding lodges over the next few years.
The prize of the current exhibit is a sword, which General and Brother George Washington gave to Brother Rufus Putnam for his outstanding service during the Revolutionary War.
American Union Lodge, No. 1, has a storied history. It was founded in 1776 in Roxbury, Massachusetts, as a traveling Military Lodge. Its members were all soldiers in the Continental Army, and throughout the Revolutionary War, American Union Lodge met wherever members were stationed, including Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Jersey. It is one of the few lodges that can actually document attendance by George Washington at
its meetings.
After the War, American Union Lodge came to Marietta in the Northwest Territory with Major Jonathan Heart as its Worshipful Master. Rufus Putnam, the first elected Grand Master for Ohio, was also made a member during the Revolutionary War on August 2, 1779, and his name is listed with other members in the Minute Book.
The Museum exhibit includes a copy of the Lodge’s original warrant from 1776, its subsequent Massachusetts charter from 1803, a minute book from 1782 and 1783 while the lodge was in Connecticut, and a number of other items. Rufus Putnam, who would later be elected the first Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Ohio, had presented the lodge with this sword which had been presented to him by General and Brother George Washington for service during the War. The Minute Book on display also shows when Brother Putnam was raised a Master Mason in 1779.
The Masonic Heritage Museum opened in 2017 in its permanent rooms at the Ohio Masonic Home Springfield Community. Visitors are welcome, and an appointment to visit can be made by calling the Grand Lodge office
at 800-292-6092.
