| On October 17th 1895, the Grand
Lodge of Kentucky established the 694th charter to
the brothers of Crittenden Lodge, per request from
the first acting Lodge Master, Brother John J.
McClure. Almost 17 years later to the day, on
October 16th 1912 the Grand Lodge of Kentucky
chartered another lodge in Grant County, for the
Brothers of the Dry Ridge community just 9 miles
south of Crittenden, KY, on the Dixie Highway, now
known as U.S. Highway 25. Their first acting Master
was Brother Harold Armstrong. Both Lodges thrived
amongst their communities at a time when Freemasonry
was considered more politically involved with their
well being, while at the same time remaining
secretive and prestigious amongst their Craft.
By the end of the what is now known as the baby
boom years, together with the beginning of the
television and gadget era, time changed the
priorities for the common family man and Freemasonry
membership began to slowly recede. Eventually it was
common for a lot of small town Lodges to lock their
doors and send there Charter back to the Grand
Lodge, due to financial troubles and lack of
attendance at their stated meetings. A lot of Lodges
merged together in desperate attempts to keep their
lodge active, and their great Fraternity strong.
This situation was no different for both Dry Ridge
and Crittenden Lodges, but the hard work and
determination to preserve the fraternity that they
had so proudly fought to keep alive kept our local
brothers from giving up.
After being evicted from the old Lloyd's Wildlife
House in Southern Crittenden, KY, back in 1989 by
the first woman Judge Executive Carol Woodyard, the
Brothers of Crittenden pulled together their funds
and bought a piece of property along the city limits
of Crittenden and laid the Cornerstone on their new
building on September 13 1992. This was a bold move
for a dying Fraternity and it almost cost Lodge #694
their Charter, due to intense discussions and heavy
commitments being forced on the active Brothers,
financial instability and constantly running the
Lodge in the red so to speak were the only topics
during most meeting that they were able to discuss,
and it left no other time or financial ability for
the lodge to prosper the way they wanted to do.
Dry Ridge Lodge on the other hand, although not
having such fierce financial woes, had some very big
problems of there own. It seemed that the membership
was either dying off, or losing interest in coming
to the stated meetings. Many of their meetings
started to decline in attendance, and often if it
wasn't for a visiting Brother they wouldn't have the
proper number to open the Lodge, and some meetings
went months without enough people attending to have
a secretary to keep minutes or a treasurers report.
After much frustration the most committed members
made a decision that was very hard for any Lodge to
make, and that was to sell their building and move
to surrender their Charter. This decision ended up
being the savior for the Dry Ridge Lodge name and
the charter of Crittenden Lodge. It was the shot in
the arm that Crittenden needed, because along with
the money from the sale of the Dry Ridge Lodge, the
two Lodges and Charters were merged and the
additional money bought the building. The only thing
the good Brothers of Dry Ridge asked in return for
Crittenden`s financial salvation, was to keep the
Dry Ridge name on the newly merged Charter. This
also boosted attendance and rekindled membership.
With no more financial problems the atmosphere at
the meetings was much more pleasant and suddenly the
Lodge started to grow. Their stability and friendly
atmosphere has been a magnet recently for new coming
members in the Fraternity. The recent new interest
in Freemasonry, whether it is through historical
curiosity or increased awareness through friends and
family traditions, seem to have put a new face on
Kentucky Freemasonry and our growing Lodge. And our
goal is to be a symbol of what hard work,
determination, pride, and Fraternal Brotherhood can
accomplish. |
