Tillamook Lodge #57 received its Dispensation on November 9, 1872. And got its Charter on June 13, 1873 So Freemasonry has existed in some form for at least 108 years in Tillamook county. Tillamook Lodge #57 is a living memento of the early pioneers who worked so hard. We enjoy their efforts even today. It is by their efforts that we have what we have today. Freemasonry taught those brethren of bygone years Something that they applied to their everyday living and consequently, we are happier, better educated persons. While it is impossible to relate the life of each Mason who belonged to this lodge, he has left his mark somewhere in the community and the lodge. It has been said that the real destiny of the nation, is not being worked out by the men who stand in the glare of publicity: indeed such men are often serious obstacles to progress. In society as in nature, it is the quiet, unseen forces that are most effective in molding and involving these conditions, physical, mental and spiritual, that make the betterment of mankind. Tillamook County and Tillamook Lodge #57 has been developed by quiet earnest men and women who have gone about their allotted task, heedless of discomforts and discouraging adversities of pioneer life, content to fulfill their duty in the sphere to which they have been called. Tillamook Lodge #57 has endured three fires, low membership and many other hardships. But the history of each Master is a monument, and each tells a story of the lodge. Yes, there seventy-one stories. Read the history of this county and you will find that the history in a large degree is the history of the lodge. Tillamook Lodge #57 has had several meeting places. A lot of the location have been lost during its century of existence. It has only been since January 1, 1914 that this lodge has had one continuous meeting place. Hoquarton School (which was the first in the county) was the meeting place of the lodge when it received its dispensation. In 1878 the lodge lost its meeting and could not find a suitable place to hold meeting, so the Grand Lodge of Oregon place the Charter into escrow. But in 1889 the charter was restored when the lodge started meeting in the I.O.O.F hall which was located on First street and IVY. (which is now Kimmel’s Hardware store) In 1894 the lodge moved its location a couple of blocks way. (which is where Wieners Furniture store was). In 1908 the building was destroyed by fire. Again, the lodge turned to I.O.O.F for a place to meet.
On May 15, 1912 the lodge purchased Mrs. Benjamin Hutchins’s land, which is now the site of the present Lodge
LODGE #57 HISTORY
