Universal Lodge No. 1

E-151

Prince Hall Masonry originated in Massachusetts in 1775 when a lodge attached to the British army initiated Prince Hall and 14 other free black men as Freemasons. Universal Lodge No. 1, the first Prince Hall lodge in Virginia, was established in Alexandria on 5 Feb. 1845. According to tradition, founders William Dudley, Benjamin Crier, and Sandy Bryant were seamen who had become masons in the St. George's Lodge in Liverpool, England, in the 1830s. They later joined Social Lodge No. 1 in Washington, DC, and worked to charter a new lodge across the Potomac River. Before the Civil War, Universal Lodge No. 1 met secretly in a house on South Royal Street in Hayti, a black enclave.

Department of Historic Resources, 2018

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

“Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of F.A.A.M. for the District of Columbia From March 27, 1848 to 1856.” Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia history: http://www.mwphgldc.com/index.php/masonichistory Washington Post, 9, 12 March 1894, 18 July 1910. Alton G. Roundtree and A. Tehuti Evans, History of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge District of Columbia, 1822-2016 Harrison L. Harris, Harris’ Masonic Text-Book (Petersburg: The Masonic Visitor Company, 1902). Herman Eggleston Jr. and Isaac S. Hughes, Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Virginia Anna Lynch, comp., A Compendium of Early African Americans in Alexandria, Virginia (1993). Washington Evening Star, 7 Feb. 1893. Alexandria Gazette, 5 March 1894, 6 June 1899. Discussion with McArthur Myers, Most Worshipful Master, Universal Lodge #1 PH.