Meetings

St. John's No.4 GRM regularly meets the First Wednesday of the Month, September through May, 7:30pm at the Masonic Memorial Temple, 420 Corydon Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Visiting Masons always welcome!



History Of St. John's No. 4

One hundred and thirty one years ago, John Walter Harris, a member of Polar Star Lodge No.113, Grand Lodge of Iowa, and seventeen other brethren petitioned the Grand Lodge of Manitoba for a dispensation to form a new lodge in the City of Winnipeg. The Grand Lodge of Manitoba had been instituted eight short weeks before on May 12th, 1875. Little delay was lost as the prayer of the petitioners was answered on July 6th and St. John’s Lodge No.4 was instituted on Wednesday July 7th, 1875.

The officers were, John Harris W.Master, Archibald McNee Senior Warden, and Stewart McDonald Junior Warden. The principal cause which led to the inauguration of St.John’s Lodge was to meet the wishes of Masons who came from the Maritime Provinces, parts of Ontario and elsewhere where they were made Masons in Lodges using the Ancient York Rite and who were more familiar with its working than they were with the system know as the Canadian. St. John’s No.4 was only a very young lodge when Ancient Landmark No.3 adopted the Ancient York Rite and divided the field with St. John’s.

Throughout the history of St. John’s Lodge four daughter Lodges were formed, Emerson, Acacia, Friendship and Transcona.





Freemasonry in Manitoba

The presence of Freemasonry in the Red River Settlement may be traced back to John Palmer Bourke who arrived with the second group of settlers in the summer of 1813. He had arrived at York Factory the previous year and, because of their late arrival, had been forced to winter-over at that desolate place until the following spring. He was a survivor of the Seven Oaks Massacre. Following that battle he was arrested by the North West Company on the charge of having participated in the destruction of Fort Gibraltar and taken to Montreal for trial. While there he became a member of Wellington Persevering Lodge No. 20 on the Register of Lower Canada. He died just a few short years prior to the formation of Northern Light Lodge which took place in the fall of 1864. Among the founding members of this Lodge were John Schultz, who was later to become Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Manitoba, A.G.B.Bannatyne, a prominent merchant, and William Inkster. The formation of this Lodge was the beginning of organized Freemasonry in the Red River Settlement and, ultimately, in the Prairie provinces of Canada.

Today the 4,000 members of the Craft meet in the 54 Lodges spread out throughout Manitoba to: practice their ancient ritual, study the symbolic meaning and history of the Craft and meet to determine ways or means to improve themselves and contribute to their community.



History of Freemasonry

The origin of Freemasonry is one of the most debated, and debatable, subjects in the whole realm of historical inquiry. One has to distinguish between the legendary history of Freemasonry and the problem of when it actually began as an organized institution. According to Masonic legend, Freemasonry is as old as architecture itself.

Prof. Francis A. Yates
The Rosicrucian Enlightenment