By Donald Norton

Everyone is invited to the Masonic Open House on Saturday, April 11.

Throughout the entire state of Massachusetts, all Masonic buildings will be open to the public as well as here in Somerville from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 125 Highland Avenue (rear).

Officers of the lodge will be present to give you a personal tour of the lodge hall itself and answer any questions you always wanted to ask.

Everyone is invited to come. King Solomon’s Lodge AF & AM here in Somerville is the first chartered lodge of the United States as a nation, established only 2 days after the signing of the peace treaty between the colonies and Great Britain.

The lodge was originally chartered out of Charlestown and met for many years at the now Warren Tavern, and later in 1896 moved to Somerville.

Together with two other lodges they built the Masonic building on the corner of Pearl & Marshall Street, which in 1969 burnt down.

King Solomon’s Lodge owned the land and built the first veterans monument here in the United States at Bunker Hill, to remember the death of all those that fought at the battle. In particular, the Grand Master of Masons in the US, Joseph Warren, who died at the battle and gave his life so that we might enjoy our freedoms today.

The lodge’s charter was signed by Paul Revere and John Warren, who were at the time Grand Lodge officers.

Many ancient artifacts and lots of history goes with the lodge. Masons such as George Washington and Ben Franklin, and later Walt Disney, John Glenn, and many notable politicians throughout history were masons.

Masonry is worldwide organization with millions of members in just about every country. It is one of the world’s largest charitable and fraternal organizations giving an estimated 2.5 million dollars a day here in the United States alone. In Massachusetts, masons give to scholarships, chips program, Shriners Hospital and many more chartable programs.