Alamo Lodge No. 44
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Alamo Lodge No. 44, A.F. & A.M., is the oldest Masonic lodge in Bexar County, San Antonio, Texas, under the jurisdiction of the regular Grand Lodge of Texas. The lodge was granted a charter by the Grand Lodge of Texas on January 15, 1848; it is honored by a plaque on the South Wall of the Alamo's long barrack, hailing the lodge as the "Birthplace of Freemasonry in West Texas." The lodge, which is a "blue" or craft lodge, currently meets in San Antonio's Scottish Rite Cathedral, which is near the Alamo complex.[1]
Freemasons present during different stages of the Battle of the Alamo included James B. Bonham, James Bowie, David Crockett, Almeron Dickinson, and William B. Travis. The first Worshipful Master of the lodge was Captain James H. Ralston, an Assistant Quartermaster of U.S. Volunteers. Original members of the lodge were primarily military officers who were already Freemasons. The Lodge held its meetings for several months in an upper-story room of the Long Barrack until it moved into its own hall on Alamo Plaza on June 24, 1848. Through its history, two past masters of Alamo Lodge No. 44 served as Grand Masters of Texas: James H. McLeary (1881), and A.W. Houston (1914).[2]
Alamo Lodge No. 44 hosts an annual meeting of masons inside of the Alamo Chapel, an event which includes a public procession in Masonic regalia.[3]