Canada’s First Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons (A.F. & A.M.)

Canada’s First Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons (A.F. and A.M.). . , Sir Allan Napier MacNab, Provincial Grand Master under patent from Scotland, was also appointed Provincial Grand Master for Upper Canada under patent from England in 1844. Due to much dissatisfaction with the Grand Lodge of England, a protest meeting was held in Hamilton in 1855 with representatives from forty-one regularly warranted lodges in attendance. , On October 10th, 1855 in the Masonic Hall at the N.E. corner of John and Main Street, Hamilton, the independent Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Canada was duly constituted. By the following July, Judge William Mercer Wilson, the Grand Master, presided over thirty affiliated lodges, containing 1,179 members. The virtually moribund Provincial Grand Lodge, presided over by MacNab under authority from England, decided to exert its independence and became known as the Ancient Grand Lodge of Canada., On July 14, 1858, at its Annual Communication, the Grand Lodge of Canada absorbed the Ancient Grand Lodge, dissolving the latter. Within three years, 155 lodges held warrants. By 1905, the fiftieth year of Masonry as an independent organization in Ontario, 390 lodges and 35,000 members were under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Canada in the Province of Ontario. As it enters its sesqui-centennial year there are 611 lodges and 58,000 members. Its modern headquarters at 363 King Street West, Hamilton, stands adjacent to the Masonic Centre., Donated by the Masons of Hamilton Districts A, B, and C, October 2005. , Hamilton Historical Board 2005 , City of Hamilton