Brother_Steve
Premium Member
Well, since I now re-read the statement, new jersey showed an uptick.
However, we have in our lodge alone 100 members who are on the books but have not yet paid dues for 2013 and 2014. They are about to be dropped.
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Membership numbers
- Thread starter mrplod
- Start date
However, we have in our lodge alone 100 members who are on the books but have not yet paid dues for 2013 and 2014. They are about to be dropped.
Warrior1256
Site Benefactor
From what I have been told my lodge here in Kentucky has approx. 80 members but there are far bigger lodges. One that I visit has approx. 350 members.
Roy_
Registered User
Just out of curiosity, but the numbers you all name are for one lodge? Over here (Netherlands) it has long been so that when a lodge reached over 30 members, it split in two. That is about the only reason one city has more than one lodge (of one order). Nowdays there are smaller and larger lodges since new membership is not like it used to, but I do not know larger than, let's say, 40 member lodges in my country.
Now my own (clandestine) lodge has only 11 members (including me and my girlfriend who recently joined, three more initiations soon) which is really small, too small actually, but this is how things go. We currently do not even have enough MM's for all functions, so a little creativity is required. As of now, we have 3 EA's, 3 FC's and 5 MM's.
Now my own (clandestine) lodge has only 11 members (including me and my girlfriend who recently joined, three more initiations soon) which is really small, too small actually, but this is how things go. We currently do not even have enough MM's for all functions, so a little creativity is required. As of now, we have 3 EA's, 3 FC's and 5 MM's.
dfreybur
Premium Member
In the US before the turn of the 20th century there was a tradition that once a lodge reached 100 members it would "hive" or split to become two lodges. This is how cities came to have multiple lodges.
In the US around the turn of the 20th century it was noted that larger lodges could have larger budgets and thus could afford better buildings. There were many magnificent Masonic buildings erected between 1900 and 1930 as a result of this change in tradition. Very few of these buildings are still in the fraternity but some are. My mother lodge http://www.pasadenamasoniclodge272.org/ owns one of these magnificent structures.
When there is a debate about quantity versus quality keep in mind how many members it took to be able to build such a building. Then question whether having such buildings is worth it. It's not any easy value trade off to justify a stance at either end of the spectrum.
There is also a century long up and down trend in our numbers. By about 1960 when the builder generation aged out the US Masonic population peaked and started a decline. Sure enough around 50 years later we are once again seeing enough petitioners to stop shrinking and start growing. The trend in erecting large buildings did not take this long term trend into account and that's why most of the buildings have been lost to the fraternity.
In the US around the turn of the 20th century it was noted that larger lodges could have larger budgets and thus could afford better buildings. There were many magnificent Masonic buildings erected between 1900 and 1930 as a result of this change in tradition. Very few of these buildings are still in the fraternity but some are. My mother lodge http://www.pasadenamasoniclodge272.org/ owns one of these magnificent structures.
When there is a debate about quantity versus quality keep in mind how many members it took to be able to build such a building. Then question whether having such buildings is worth it. It's not any easy value trade off to justify a stance at either end of the spectrum.
There is also a century long up and down trend in our numbers. By about 1960 when the builder generation aged out the US Masonic population peaked and started a decline. Sure enough around 50 years later we are once again seeing enough petitioners to stop shrinking and start growing. The trend in erecting large buildings did not take this long term trend into account and that's why most of the buildings have been lost to the fraternity.
Roy_
Registered User
Thank you for the information. During WWII over here not only Freemasonry was forbidden by the Germans, but also the possessions of the lodges were forfeited, sometimes destroyed, sometimes returned after the war, but in both cases a new start had to be made.
I don't think we've ever had the size of lodges like you do though. This is also a reason why Freemasonry is much more visible in the streets in the USA than it is over here. Here, almost no large buildings with square and compass on the front or things like that.
Yep, history surely treated us differently.
I don't think we've ever had the size of lodges like you do though. This is also a reason why Freemasonry is much more visible in the streets in the USA than it is over here. Here, almost no large buildings with square and compass on the front or things like that.
Yep, history surely treated us differently.