Rising Sun Lodge No. 29

Rising Sun Lodge No. 29. Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. , Dr. Henry Rhodes, for whom Rhodes Ferry Landing was named, was Decatur's first Postmaster and one of the organizers of the Lodge (Nov. 22, 1826). Chartered in 1827, its first Worshipful Master was Colonel Francis Dancy, builder of the Dancy-Polk House. It is the oldest Lodge in Morgan County and the first fraternal organization in Decatur. Early members were the pioneer settlers of Morgan county. Two of Decatur's founders, Isaac Lane and General Jesse Winston Garth, were Masons and Directors of the Decatur Land Company which laid out the city streets. A lodge was built in 1834 with the lower floor used for school and church purposes. Riding Sun Lodge was destroyed by the enemy during the War Between the States (Nov. 25, 1864). In 1873 a Lodge was built on the NW corner of Bank and Pond Streets, across from the Old State Bank, W.W. Littlejohn and Colonel C.C. Harris were Masons and founders of the Decatur Land Improvement and Furnace Company which planned the city of New Decatur (1887). Three members, all doctors in faithful discharge of their Hippocratic Oath, were lost to the 1888 Yellow Fever epidemic. James McGinnis Brundidge, PM, is the only Mason in the history of the Alabama Grand Lodge to be bestowed the title of 'Honorable Past Grand Master' (1899). In 1934, the Lodge moved into the Masonic Temple on Johnston Street, formerly the Cotaco Opera House.