History of Clovis Masonic Lodge No. 417
In the early part of the 20th
Century, the City of Clovis was about 15 miles north-east of the City of Fresno.
Today they share a common border.
Early in 1910, a group of Master
Mason's met to promote a new lodge for Clovis. The
first meeting, held under dispensation, was on June 16, 1910 in the John E. Good
Building located at 5th and Front streets.
Leroy Taylor was Worshipful Master; Fred Smith was Senior Warden, Lewis
Gibson was Junior Warden. These Masons came from other Lodges around the valley
and from back east.
The Grand Lodge of California issued
a charter on October 3, 1910 and Clovis Masonic Lodge No. 417 was born. The
following 13 were the charter members: Frank Arthur Anderson, Lewis Willis
Gibson, Lewis William Harvey, Henry Edward Hawkins, Nathan Henry Hayes, Herbert
Guary Johnson, Elbert Sylvester Kirkpatrick, Guy Fawkes Matheny, Harry E.
Armstrong, Frederick Walter Smith, Francis Palmer South, Leroy Taylor ( the
first Master of Clovis Lodge), and Luther Edward Weldon. Las Palmas Lodge No.
366 was the sponsoring lodge for Clovis Masonic Lodge, and James C. Pottle, the
first Worshipful Master of Las Palmas Lodge, was the Inspector and the guiding
hand for the formation of Clovis Lodge.
Clovis Lodge was up and running quickly and was doing very well. Some of the
more prominent people of the town of Clovis were becoming members. James G.
Fergusson, head book keeper for the Clovis Lumber Company, received his degrees
in the first year. On June 16, 1912, exactly 2 years from its inception, Clovis
Lodge received a small setback in the form of a fire which destroyed its
furnishings, records and charter. Within a week, all of the necessary steps to
re-furnish the lodge, replace its charter and gather itself was in effect.
After the fire, the members of Clovis Lodge, moved across the street to the
Freitas Hall at the corner of 5th and Front Streets, which is now Clovis Avenue,
and rented the upstairs for $10.00 per month. Downstairs was a pool hall and
there were plenty of evenings that the ritual work in the lodge room was to be
interrupted by the cheers of the patrons down below. They stayed at this hall
until 1930 when they purchased their own building, the former First Presbyterian
Church, located at the corner of 5th and DeWitt Avenues, which was used until
consolidation with Las Palmas-Ponderosa Lodge in January of 2015.
Two families have provide many members to Clovis Masonic Lodge. They are the
Reyburn, and Matthews families. Together these two families alone have been
responsible for a total of 14 members. Some of the other more notable last names
of the members of past are, Good, Parker, Blakeley, Clifford, Sargent,
McCormick, Clay, Polson, Howison, and many more that are too numerous to
mention. It is also worth mentioning that many of the roads and schools in and
around Clovis bear the names of many of these men.