Part Of The Fabric Of The Community Since The Early 1800s

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Freemasonry has been a feature of life since the settlement of Southeastern Morris County, and its history is punctuated by the occupation of several historic buildings that survive today, especially the present home of Madison Lodge at 170 Main Street.

In 1814 Chatham Lodge was formed by Ichabod Burnett, Jepthah B. Munn, Reuben Bishop and David Miller in the village of Bottle Hill, Chatham Township.

The first Masonic building on Main Street, near what is now Waverly Place, was bought by Munn, Bishop and Miller as well as Ichabod Burnett and M.L. Burnett, Ephraim Camp, Cornelius Meeker, David L. Osborn, Baxter Sayre and William Sayre.

Jephtha Munn, of Chatham, was one of the organizers of the Morris District Medical Society in 1816. As Grand Master of New Jersey Masons, Dr. Munn helped organize the reception of Brother Mason, Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, in 1824 when he visited the Morris area on his last US visit. Munn’s remains are interred in the Presbyterian Cemetery across the street from the Lodge’s home today.

In 1824, Chatham Lodge No. 33 was disbanded. Brother Hunting, a member of the Lodge, subsequently erected a hotel on the property which was later relocated on Main Street. That building, on the Northeast corner of Waverly and Main, was, for a time, the home of the Madison Historical Society.

From the 1820s and through the Civil War, Masons remained active in other Lodges in the area, but it was not until after the War, when the population surged, that their numbers justified forming a new Lodge.

In June 1868, Drew Theological Seminary professor Rev. Bernard H. Nadal, William H. Gardiner, George H. Hancock, Peter J. Heltmann, Stephen D. Hunting, John Simpson and Rev. James M. Tuttle and his sons Alexander H. and James W. Tuttle, petitioned the Grand Lodge of New Jersey to form Madison Lodge.

On July 9, 1868, the first Lodge meeting was held in Oriental Hall on Waverly Place, sharing space occupied by the Excelsior Temple of Honor, No 7, a temperance society.

On January 21, 1869, a Warrant was issued to Madison Lodge No.93 by the Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons for the State of New Jersey.

February 4, 1869, the first meeting at Oriental Hall, was followed by a dinner at the Waverly Hotel, later called the Madison House, later the First National Bank. (In the great fire on October 21, 1877, the space previously occupied by the Lodge in Oriental Hall was destroyed. The building at that time was the home of the Madison Young Men’s Christian Association.)

On February 15, 1872, the Lodge moved into larger space in the newly furnished third floor of the Searing Building, No. 5-7 Waverly Place where the Lodge met for forty years, until 1912.

Establishing a long tradition of assisting other community organizations in their formative years, the Lodge sub-let the space for meetings of other area organizations including:

Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 1892 -1912
Junior Order of United American Mechanics, 1893-1897
Pride of Madison Council, Daughters of Liberty, 1896-1897
Morris County Gardener and Florist Club, 1897 – 1912
Independent Order of Foresters, 1897-1912
Catholic Ladies’ Benevolent Legion, 1900-1901

On September 25, 1912, Madison Lodge held its first meeting on the 3rd floor of 91-93 Main Street, built by Green & Pierson, coal and lumber dealers, the building that is today the home of several retail establishments.

During the ensuing eighteen years the Lodge grew and sought a new, permanent location. On June 5, 1930, they acquired the historic Presbyterian Church building at 170 Main Street., which had been built in 1824-25.

The Lodge retained local architects to renovate and modify the century-old structure in such a way as to preserve the exterior appearance of the Wren-Gibbs form, built in the tradition of the Old North Church in Boston. It is the form also used in Presbyterian churches built in the 1830s in Parsippany and Rockaway.

Following a year’s work, on June 25, 1931, Madison Lodge moved into the building, which was dedication as a Masonic Temple, September 12, 1931.

Ninety years ago, at the dedication as a Masonic Temple, the Grand Master of New Jersey Masons remarked, “This Temple is dedicated to the service of God and man, for lo, these many years the very bricks of this edifice are rich in associations. Here were joined in wedlock the men and women now known as the forebears of these townspeople.”

… as Madison Masonic Temple

When the Presbyterian Church sold the building to Madison Lodge, in 1930, it was with the understanding that the exterior form would not be modified, except as required. The only visible changes were the addition in the rear to house the kitchen and heating system and the addition of the fire escape on the westerly side.

Steel girders were installed lengthwise to support a complete second floor on the level where the gallery had been situated. The second floor now houses the lodge meeting room and anterooms.

The 1824, beautifully curved ceiling of the church has been preserved, with the embellishment of one of the largest molded plaster rose centers in the State of New Jersey. The decorative plaster work and all of the carpentry and trim were executed by local artisans, many of whom were Lodge members.

The first floor houses the kitchen, library and rest rooms and the multi-purpose dining room and secondary meeting space.

A Community Resource
Since the 1950s, the Temple has been made available to non-profit, community groups including Madison Historical Society, Girl Scouts, Borough softball and the Madison Junior School Peer Counselling Program.

It is also is used for the services of a local religious group, The Institute for Spiritual Development, suspended due to the COVID-19 epidemic but expected to re-open this Spring.

Historic Designations of the Building

New Jersey Register of Historic Places 2007

The National Register of Historic Places 2008

When the building was approved for listing, in 2007, it was on a dual basis. It has interest, first, as both the oldest brick building in Madison and the oldest masonry church in Morris County. Secondarily, it is important as one of the earliest known examples of preservation by means of conversion to an alternate use that is consistent with the original purpose. For much of the early 19th century, as the only church extant in what was then Chatham Township, this building served as a house of worship for the faithful of many Christian denominations.

About the physical building 170 Main Street*

On February 4, 1823, the Presbyterian Church congregation approved purchase of “the ground lying between the houses of Alexander M. Miller and Daniel Burnett” for a new church.

The foundation was laid in the spring of 1824 and the building was completed in Spring 1825. The Church was dedicated May 18, 1825. The Church tradition tells us the bricks were obtained from either or both a brick yard on Brittin Street and one in Green Village. Many bricks on the south facing, exterior wall carry masons’ marks, some impressed before the bricks hardened and some inscribed afterward.

The master carpenters were Ichabod Bruen and Lewis Carter, of Madison and the head mason was John Sturges, of Green Village. It is fifty-five by seventy-five feet. Its side walls are twenty-four inches thick and its end walls twenty inches thick.

Records discovered during renovation indicate that the building underwent modest renovation of the pulpit and replacement of the seats in 1857-58 by Elias Force and Joseph Marsh. Many of these seats are now incorporated into the seating of the lodge meeting room and the perimeter of the first-floor dining room, two of which flank the lobby entrance shown in the photo.

*Source: A History of the Presbyterian Church, Madison, N.J., Rev. Samuel L. Tuttle, Pastor of Presbyterian Church, 1855, Published by M.W. Dodd, New York, N.Y.

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