Crystal Lake Lodge No. 34 A.F. & A.M.

Crystal Lake Lodge No. 34 A.F. and A.M.. Lodge Built 1908. , In September, 1875, members of the Masonic fraternity proposed the establishment of a lodge in Lake City. Twenty Masons, who felt themselves to be sufficiently permanent residents to affiliate with a local lodge, met on December 4, 1875. To provide a suitable meeting place, these Masons formed the Lake City Masonic Building Association with a capital stock of $2,500 and formulated plans for the eventual construction of a lodge hall on lots to be acquired for that purpose near the southeast corner of Third Street and Gunnison Avenue. , Preliminary meetings were held in Brockett's Hall on Gunnison Avenue. By February, 1878, the officers-elect were declared competent to confer the Masonic Degrees. Local Masonic membership at that time was estimated in excess of 75 men, more than enough, said the SILVER WORLD Newspaper, to make Lake City's lodge “one of the largest and most flourishing in the state.” Among those originally agitating for formation of the local lodge were Fred C. Peck, H.M. Woods, J.W. Brockett, P.O. Lydon, Thos. G. Barnhouse, S.C. Foote, Frank Curtiss, and Sidney Wilson. , Del Norte Lodge No. 29, AF and AM, recommended the formation of Lake City's Crystal Lake Lodge No. 34, AF and AM. The proposed name was in honor of Crystal Lake, located at the base of Crystal Peak northwest of Lake City. , Cornelius J. Hart, Most Worshipful Grand Master of Masons of Colorado, granted dispensation dated February 19, 1878, authorizing formation of a Masonic Lodge in Lake City under the name Crystal Lake Lodge Under Dispensation. The dispensation was to be in effect until the next annual Grand Lodge Communication on September 17, 1878, at Denver City. The official charter was granted on September 18, 1878, with Fred C. Peck as first Master; David M. Watson, Senior Warden, and Henry C. Olney as Junior Warden. , Crystal Lake Lodge has met in three different locations since its formation. Prior to moving to this location, in 1908, the lodge was housed in a room of the H.L. Franklin Block, southwest corner of Third Street and Gunnison Avenue, and the Hough Block, northeast corner of Third and Silver streets. , Upon moving to an upstairs suite in the Hough Block in 1882, the MINING REGISTER gave the following description: "All the paraphernalia of the lodge has been handsomely repainted and bronzed by Mayers, and blue window blinds, with lambrequins to match, hung on all the windows. The floor is covered with a handsome blue tapestry carpet, the generous gift of Mr. Hough, and three four-light chandeliers. The room is very attractive and decidedly neat." , In 1908 a plan to acquire the present building was proposed by the membership. , The site, Lot 9 in Block 57, had an unfortunate building history. The log walls for a retail liquor store were started in 1877 but never completed; the walls were removed in 1881, leaving the lot vacant until 1902 when a prosperous Chinese laundryman by the name Quong On Wah decided that increased business required construction of a larger building for a steam laundry. Construction was started on the laundry's massive stone walls but the expected increase in business apparently failed to materialize and Quong Wah left Lake City, leaving the roofless walls of his laundry unfinished. , In 1908 the local Masons arranged to purchase the lot and the partially completed stone walls, then proceeded to construct the brick front and roof, placed the cement sidewalk, and partitioned the interior for lodge needs. Inspection of the building's exterior walls today reveals the two distinct building materials used in its construction. , Total cost of the purchase and remodel was $1,200 which was repaid from personal loans of $25 each from lodge members which were paid to the building trustee, lodge secretary James F. Steinbeck. Crystal Lake Lodge and its companion lodge, Queen Sheba Easter Star Chapter No. 36, paid rent at $25 per month to the trustee, repaying an individual's loan each month until the entire mortgage was retired. , In May, 1908, M.W. Grand Master J.A. Davis granted permission to move the lodge into the new building. A member of the lodge, Herman Lueders, who happened to serve as chairman of the building board for the state capitol in Denver, arranged to acquire a block of marble which had been rejected when the capitol was constructed. This marble was engraved with the name Crystal Lake Lodge No. 34, AF and AM, AL5878-5908, Year of Light. This tablet was attached to the northwest corner of the lodge building on October 18, 1908, to commemorate 30 years of Masonry in Lake City. , Fred C. Peck was the first Worshipful Master of Crystal Lake Lodge Under Dispensation in 1878. He opened the first meeting held in Lake City on February 26, 1878. He was officially installed as the lodge's first Master under charter on October 5, 1878, and retired from the office on December 23, 1879. , Peck was born in Pennsylvania on January 21, 1841. He joined the Union Army during the Civil War and was a member of the Seventh Kansas Cavalry known as a "Jayhawker." Peck later returned to Pennsylvania where he was elected Sheriff of Crawford County before the age of 25. He served as a member of the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention which framed the existing Pennsylvania Constitution. , He later moved to Colorado Territory as a pioneer attorney. He served as a member of the Colorado Constitutional Convention held in Denver in 1876. Peck served in the first Colorado Legislature and later represented Hinsdale County in the Colorado Senate for two terms. In Lake City he was a member of the prestigious law firm Howell and Peck with R.G. Howell. , Peck was a life-long Mason and member of Eureka Lodge No. 366 in Union City, Pennsylvania. September 19, 1879, he was commissioned to institute Ouray Lodge No. 37, in Ouray, Colorado, and install its new lodge officers. , Fred C. Peck died January 24, 1908, in Washington, DC, and was buried in Arlington Cemetery. His wife, Frances, commissioned a large oak master's chair which remains in his memory in the main room of the Lake City lodge.