OUR HISTORY
The Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia was founded on St. John’s Day in 1811 by five Lodges which met in the territory that by an Act of Congress became the planned nation’s capital, and the District of Columbia. On its first day, the new Grand Lodge chartered Union Lodge No. 6, as its first “domestic” Lodge in the new District, sponsored by the storied Naval Lodge No. 4. But while we were the first such Lodge, we are not the oldest. Union Lodge No. 6 weathered the British invasion of the District in the War of 1812 (a military campaign that inspired Francis Scott Key’s to pen “The Star Spangled Banner” in the attack on Fort Henry in neighboring Baltimore) as well as the vicissitudes that befell the young Republic in the decades that followed. The Lodge continued to meet until 1835, when due to financial constraints it went dark.

Unlike other Lodges that went out of existence by the surrender of their Charters to the Grand Lodge, Union Lodge No. 6 was permitted to “lodge” its Charter with the Grand Lodge, subject to return to its brothers, if so requested. And so it remained for the following 181 years.

The Lodge’s Charter, still preserved by the Grand Lodge, was revived at the Grand Lodge’s Third Communication in December of 2011, when it was reinstated by order of the Grand Master as a Past Masters’ Lodge, and delivered to sixteen brothers from DC, New York and Oklahoma, subject to the Grand Lodge’s approval which was established in the Annual Communication of 2014 by vote of the Grand Lodge. Since its revival, the Lodge has grown both in membership and in the varied states from which its members hail.

The Lodge considers affiliation by Past Masters, both locally and from Grand Jurisdictions in amity with the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia. In addition to the Lodge’s programs, its members provide requested support as a resource to constituent Lodges within the District, to Lodges in the home bases of its members, and to the programs of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia.

The Lodge’s character is one of collegiality among its members, with ample opportunities to exercise the pleasures of fraternal culture and celebration of all the formal and informal traditions and interests of modern and cosmopolitan Freemasonry.

THE FRY SOCIETY

Since its inception, the formal dining and toasting traditions of the Craft have played a central role in Union Lodge’s fraternal life, and each quarterly session includes multiple days of fellowship and celebration, including the opportunities for dinners, brunches, and the study and appreciation of the social pleasures that have characterized gentlemen’s gatherings since the Lodge was first Chartered. Along with the traditional working tools of the Craft, we cultivate appreciation of such modern working tools as the fine cigar and distilled spirit, always within the bounds of temperance.

To that end, each of its brothers are considered members-in-good-standing of what is informally known as “The Fry Society,” named for one of our Brothers who – while passed to the celestial Lodge – has made an indelible imprint upon the life of the Lodge. Brother Harvey Judson Fry III had the distinction of being initiated, passed and raised to the Sublime Degree within the body of Union Lodge No. 6. In addition, he was known throughout much of the world as the unparalleled expert on malt beverages of every kind, and conducted an educational and learned tasting during each of our weekends before and during his membership in our Lodge. Those tastings continue to be an important part of each of our sessions, and continue to be conducted by knowledgeable “conductors of the spirit” at each of the weekends that includes our Stated Communications.

This tradition continues, both as an important part of the cosmopolitan character of our Lodge, and to honor the memory of our departed Brother.

Compiled by Most Worshipful Brother Joseph S. Crociata, Jr,