Central City Lodge No. 12, F&AM, Prince Hall. Jurisdiction Of Georgia

Meeting: 1st & 3rd Thursday @ 8">History of Central City Lodge No. 12, LLC
Macon, GA

In 1806, after the Creeks ceded their lands east of the Ocmulgee River, President Thomas Jefferson had a trading post established as a peacekeeper and trading site. Named for the Indian agent and statesman Benjamin Hawkins, a replica stands today on a hill in East Macon.

In 1822 the Georgia legislature created Bibb County, named for William Wyatt Bibb, a U.S. Senator. Macon, named in honor of Nathaniel Macon, a North Carolina patriot and statesman, was the county seat.

At the close of the Civil War in 1865, Masonic Lodges began to appear in the Southern states, a visionary Rev. James M. Simms, a Baptist Minister and a free man from Savannah, GA, had moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where he was made a Mason. As soon as the Civil War ended, Rev. J.M. Simms clothed with Masonic authority as a District Deputy Grand Master, returned to Savannah to live and set up Eureka Lodge No. 1, on February 4, 1866; on December 27, 1866, he set up John T. Hilton Lodge No. 13, both Lodges receiving warrants from the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. On December 3, 1866, Bannaker Lodge No. 38 was set up in Augusta, GA dispensation granted from the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. Rev. James M. Simms called these three Masonic Lodges to meet in Savannah, on June 24, 1870; whereby he organized the Grand Lodge of Georgia.

Rev. James M. Simms was elected to serve as Georgia’s first Grand Master. Eureka Lodge became No. 1, John T. Hilton No. 2 and Bannaker No. 3 under the Grand Lodge of Georgia. Saint James Lodge No. 4 was chartered in Atlanta; Silver Trowel No. 5 in Darien; Lewis Hayden No. 6 in Columbus; Zion No. 7 in St. Mary’s; Cornerstone No. 8 in Brunswick; Poplar Spring No. 9 in Jefferson; Sumner No. 10 in Baxley; Pythagoras No. 11 in Savannah and Phoenix Lodge No. 12 in Macon, GA.

The first Masonic Lodge for Blacks in the City of Macon was known as Phoenix Lodge No. 13. This Lodge was placed under Dispensation by Grand Master Louis B. Toomer on June 18, 1873 during the Savannah Grand Lodge session. The Lodge was founded by Charter members Leouidas Rutherford serving as Worshipful Master, Edwin Belcher, Senior Warden and Jefferson Franklin Long as the Junior Warden. The Grand Lodge record spelled the name with slight variances from Phenix to “Phoenix” Lodge No. 13 initially and was given the number “12” after the 1888 merger of the two Grand Lodges in the State of Georgia. The Lodge was Instituted in 1873 when it was given a Dispensation at the Grand Lodge Session on March 29th, 1875 in Savannah, GA and signed by the Grand Secretary Albert Jackson under Grand Master John H. DeVeaux.

Phoenix Lodge had many notable members on its rolls. One of the most well-known members was John Henry Walker. Walker was said by Past Grand Master H.R. Butler to be “the pioneer and father of Higher Degree Freemasonry in the State of Georgia.”

It seems as though the last documented year of the use of the name Phoenix Lodge No. 12 was around 1935 according to the proceedings of the MWPHGL of Georgia. Evidence suggests that the name of Central City Lodge was adopted around 1935.

Central City Lodge moved from 395 Middle Street, Macon, GA to its current location 4076 Houston, Avenue, Macon, GA in the spring of 2012. Central City Lodge No. 12 became a Domestic Limited Liability Company on December 19, 2012.