How far apart are you lodges?

[Rick Carver]

I heard a Past Grand Master explain that during the period where Lodges were being formed in Kansas, the guideline was to spread them out at a distance of about every 11 miles. This was believed to be the distance a Brother could be expected to travel on foot or on horseback to attend a meeting and yet return home at a reasonable hour. How does this compare with the "old Lodges" established in your jurisdiction?

This is not used today of course. There are 3 Lodges that meet in our building on different days and evenings.

 

[KSigMason]

In Idaho, Lodges can be separated by hours, but if you look at my state you'll see there are only a handful of roads, in state, that go from southern Idaho to northern Idaho. Most often it is faster to go out of state (sometimes multiple ones) to get from one part of Idaho to the next.

 

[Levelhead]

We have 1 per small town and sometimes 2 in big towns. Id say 5 to 10 miles apart


Sent From Bro Carl's Freemasonry Pro App

 

[dfreybur]

Illinois still has a form available from the Gr Sec office that's a "Waiver of Jurisdiction". If a candidate petitions a lodge more than 50 miles from his home the lodge nearest his home has to vote to allow the petition to move forward because he's petitioning outside of his traditional cable tow of 50 miles. I've never heard of anyone being required to fill out this form no matter how far his lodge is from his home.

 

[MarkR]

In rural Minnesota, it's often much more than 11 miles between lodges, because it's much more than 11 miles between towns of any size. The closest to my lodge is probably 13-14 miles, and then it gets much further to the next closest.

 

[admarcus1]

Five lodges meet in our building, though they didn't always. My understanding is that here in Massachusetts, all lodges in the state have concurrent jurisdiction (I think that is the term), so that any eligible resident of MA May petition any lodge in the state. I don't know if the same applies elsewhere. Perhaps it's the norm. In any case, I had multiple lodges to choose from within a mile of my house.

 

[Warrior1256]

I live in a larger city so there are numerous lodges here. I'm not sure if there is some kind of system regarding distance between lodges elsewhere in the state.

 

[Brother JC]

In NM, towns are generally at least 60 miles apart... so are lodges. A traveling Grand Officer can expect to put tens of thousands of miles on his vehicle each year, just visiting lodges.