“Shades Valley Lodge, a Fifty-Year History”
Written for the Semicentennial of Shades Valley Lodge No 829 F. & A.M. by an unknown brother
On September 17, 1921, Most Worshipful Percy B. Dixon, Grand Master of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Alabama issued dispensation to Brothers John Turpin Callaway, Binion Chappell Waller, Dyer Pinckney Wilson, Thomas Sylvester Hickman, William Edgar Morris, Robert Lorenzo McNutt, William Thomas Byers, Otto Walter Anderson, Rainy McKinzie Warren, Washington Mac Bearden, Percy Davis Reese, Belcie John East, Percy Clower, John Albert Hollman, Edward Clanton Leachman, James Albert Lanier, Byrd Potts, John Edward French, William Archie Trumble, and John Graham Putnam to form and organize a lodge at Edgewood, Jefferson County to be known as Shades Valley Lodge No 829 and appointed John Turpin Callaway to be the Master, Binion Chappell Waller to be the Senior Warden, and Dyre Pinckney Wilson to be the Junior Warden.
The first communication under dispensation was held on September 19, 1921, and the Lodge was instructed by Brother Thomas O. Jones, Past Master of Oak Forest Lodge No 643. The following were appointed to hold office until the Charter was granted:
The Lodge was examined on November 1, 1921 by Brother Thomas O. Jones, District Lecturer, and a permanent Charter was granted on December 8, 1921 after only 10 weeks, and the same officers were elected and appointed. The first petitioner for the degrees was Ross Witherspoon Ellenburg who was elected on September 29, 1921. The second petition received was that of Brother James William Williamson, Past Master, who is still a member of Shades Valley Lodge No 829 and resides in Florence, Alabama. The first candidate raised was Brother James Edward Smith, now deceased. The first meeting place of the Lodge was in a frame building in Rosedale owned by Theo Smith. It was later moved to another frame building in Rosedale owned by Alfred Bearden. In 1924, the Lodge moved to the corner of Oxmoor Road and Broadway in Edgewood where we met until 1956 when the new Lodge hall was completed. Our Temple at 8 Hollywood Boulevard was financed by the sale of approximately $70,000 in First Mortgage construction bonds bearing 3½ % interest. The majority of the bonds were sold to members of the Lodge. Through a well-planned program of bond redemption followed by the trustees, Shades Valley Lodge will, after redemption of January 1, 1972, have outstanding bonds in the amount of $14,100, $4,800 of which are owned by the Lodge through donations of the members.
Of the fifty Past Masters, thirteen are known to be deceased, ten have gone suspended or dimitted. Four have served more than one term — Brothers Binion Chappell Waller 1922-23 and 1934-35, Leon Waters Johnson 1954-1955 and 1957-1958, Carl Fellows Hosey 1964-1965 and 1965-1966, and Samuel Hiram Bryant, Jr. 1967-1968 and 1968-1969. Traditionally, Shades Valley Lodge No 829 has not given life memberships. However, on three occasions the Brethren assembled in Regular Communication have seen fit to make one of their members a Life Member: Brother John Turpin Callaway in 1922 for his donation in the formative years of the Lodge. In 1957, Brother John Joseph Smith for his service and untiring efforts in the construction of our present Temple. And again in 1970, to brother Dennis Flint Hooten on the anniversary of his sixtieth year as a Master Mason, he having served various Lodges four times as Master and Shades Valley Lodge for fifteen years as Chaplain. Over the past fifty years, many devoted Masons have given of their intellect, their time, and their substance to further the welfare of Shades Valley Lodge. These Brethren are far too numerous to mention individually, their service to the fraternity more than we can recount. We know who they are, and each must feel a deep satisfaction in his heart for every hour spent in the service of Masonry.
On this, the first night of the second fifty years of Shades Valley Lodge No 829, let us all rededicate ourselves to the service in Masonry in general and Shades Valley Lodge in particular, ever striving in our daily walk before God and man to put into practice the principles taught in the Lodge room.
Remember, Masonry strives not to make us better than our fellow man, but to make us better than ourselves. I would like to close with a short poem by Brother Edgar Allan Guest, which, in my opinion, tells the true Masonic Philosophy:
