My Freemasonry | Freemason Information and Discussion Forum
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What is the deal with lodge numbers? Does each Grand Lodge simply start with #1 and then #2 when they open lodges under them is there more to it? Is it per constitution or Grand Lodge or Country etc?
In all most every case....in Ga the lodge in Savannah is #1 because the received their charter from the Grand Lodge of England as the first lodge in the Ga Colony. After the revolution the Grand Lodge of Ga was formed but let the Savannah lodge keep the #1.
And the UGLE in its early days renumbered so often that even their own historians can't always state with certainty which lodges have seniority. An interesting read on this is The Four Old Lodges: Founders of Modern Freemasonry and their Descendants by Robert Freke Gould.
But yes, most GL's number by seniority, and don't reissue numbers if a Lodge is removed from the rolls.
A variation on the rule is numbers never get recycled. When I moved to Illinois I affiliated with lodge number 1162 which eventually consolidated with number 522. A few years ago Illinois chartered lodge number 5. It turns out in the early years of the grand lodge that number had been assigned, never chartered and forgotten. They were allowed the number 5 by a technicality.
WHen I first moved to San Antonio I visited Cibilo Lodge. When I read their charter I said "Wow you brothers have been in business for a very long time. Very cool". One of the brothers told me the story of how they had recycled the number. Nice variation in rules.
Some states reserve 1-5 for military lodges. Others reserve more. It looks like some states just start with the grand lodge and continue at 2. Military lodges sometimes have a letter before the number. I have gathered this ftom reading up on it.
My Lodge when formed, used a loophole in Grand Lodge Law to get the #10, they somehow kept their name and took the number #10. Needless to say the law was quickly rectified afterwards.