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Granada Hills Lodge
history includes the history of two other
Lodges. The first was MIZPAH LODGE No. 378, the
second CLARENCE F. SMITH LODGE No. 482. Therefore we
have to relate to you the history of three Lodges,
comprising the whole history from inception to the present.
MIZPAH LODGE No. 378
Mizpah Lodge No. 378 was chartered
in Los Angeles in 1906. This Lodge, according to the 1949
Roster, numbered 431 members and was one of the most
cosmopolitan in the city, its members coming from all
sections. For example, its officers in 1948 were Master
Charles W. Lunsford, residing on West 79th Street in Los
Angeles; Senior Warden Herbert S. Stormes, living in South
Pasadena; Junior Warden Hershell J. Lay in North Hollywood;
Treasurer Lawrence J. Hall who gave his address as downtown
Los Angeles, and Secretary Eirey J. Scott from Alhambra. The
Lodge itself met at Pico and Orchard, near the heart of the
city.
The first Master of the Lodge
was Charles E. Sebastian. He was a Past Master from Norwalk
Lodge, was one of the charter members of Artesia Lodge and
demitted from there to become a charter member of Mizpah
Lodge. He was later Chief of Police of the City of Los
Angeles and was also Mayor of the city.
CLARENCE F. SMITH LODGE No.
482
Clarence F. Smith Lodge No. 482,
in Los Angeles, was composed mostly of veterans of World War
I, and was named in honor of Captain Clarence F. Smith, of
the Ninety-First Infantry Division of the American
Expeditionary Forces, who was killed in action in the battle
of the Argonne Forest in that war. The first Master of the
Lodge was Ebenezer "Snapper" Ingram, a veteran of the war,
who was for many years a Los Angeles City Councilman. Other
prominent members included Buron Fitts, at one time
Lieutenant Governor of California and for many years
District Attorney of Los Angeles County; Frank G. Falloon,
Master in 1922 and for many years an Inspector, and also
Secretary of the Los Angeles Past Masters Association.
An example of the work of the
degree teams mentioned earlier is found in the records of
the Lodge in 1927, when Joseph P. Sproul, later a Superior
Court Judge, was raised to the degree of Master Mason. Judge
Victor R. McLucas was the acting Master; Judge Harry
Archbald was the Senior Warden; Judge Leon Yankwich (later
of the Federal District Court) was Junior Warden; Judge
Douglas Edmonds (later Justice of the Supreme Court of
California) was Senior Deacon; Judge Walter Hanby was Junior
Deacon and delivered the lecture; Judge Louis P. Russil was
Senior Steward; Judge J. Walton Wood (later on the District
Court of Appeals) was Junior Steward, and Judge Henry M.
Willis was Chaplain.
The charter members of
Clarence F. Smith Lodge were Ebenezer Ingram, Master;
Stephen Sterling Boothe, Senior Warden; Frank Graves Falloon,
Junior Warden; Charles Franklin Hutchins, Plummer H.
Montgomery, Howard Sloane Tracy, Frank Wheeler Rea, Henry G.
Krohn, Paul Nourse, John Porter Haynor, Jess Gwin Foster,
Russell D. Ingram, Robert C. Paulsen, Roy Gibbons Mead,
Frank C. Wiser, Ross Henry Rook, Dudley Lindsey, Charles
Lawrence Lewis, Arthur Edward DeMatt, Sidney T. Butler,
Harry E. Kun- kel, Charles E. VanDerof, Peter J. Willis,
Clifton C. Overpeck, and Raymond Irving Follmer.
Granada Hills Lodge No.
790
On December 1, 1990, Mizpah Lodge No. 378 consolidated with
Granada Hills Lodge No. 790, retaining the lower Lodge
number as required by the California Masonic Code. Then on
April 1, 1991, that Lodge consolidated with Clarence F.
Smith Lodge No. 482, which is the present day GRANADA HILLS
LODGE No. 378.
We need facts on the Granada
Hills Lodge No. 378 history by itself before consolidation.
Any Brethren who can shed light on that history should
please contact the Master of the Lodge or the Lodge
Historian, Brother John-Thomas Abbott @ 818-885-1899 for
some manner of preservation of this information.
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