A Lodge In Decline
This year marks 170 years since Temple Lodge #7 (the 7th Masonic Lodge issued a charter in the Oregon Territory) first formed here in Astoria. In the years following its formation, a 2nd lodge (Harbor Lodge #183) was formed. By 1993, the two groups had merged to become Seaport Lodge #7: our current identity.
Last year, the lodge celebrated the 100 year anniversary of the completion of our current lodge building located on Franklin Ave. This is our second home following the destruction of our original lodge building in the fire of 1922.
While we’ve had much to celebrate these past few years regarding our illustrious history in this town, the future looks less bright. It would come as a surprise to no one that organizations like ours (community-based volunteer organizations) have been in decline for decades. In the United States Freemasonry has seen continued membership decline since our peak in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Today, our own lodge stands at a membership of around 60 men, only a handful of which are actually active in lodge. Our annual dues, one of our only sources of income, are a meager $50 a year. With the building in its current state of disrepair, the city of Astoria is restricting the use of the building to ourselves alone, cutting off our only other income: event rentals.
The deferred maintenance of the building over the last 50 years has lead to a sizable price tag to make the building useable again, and despite some successes with grants and fundraising these past few years, there just isn’t enough support (financially and through community efforts) to see a path forward for the building. Options are currently being weighed about what will be done with the building: a terribly heart-wrenching process for us all.
As the man elected to lead this lodge these past few years, it’s hard not to feel a degree of personal failure. I’ve only lived in Astoria for 4 years, but I really have tried my very best to rally this community around saving this precious piece of our history - both for the sake of my beloved institution and for this town. I was fighting an uphill battle from the start, untangling decades of history regarding the building, trying desperately to see if there was anything I can do.
In my time at this lodge I have organized 2 very successful Comics, Toys, and Collectibles swap meets, marched in the Astoria Regatta Parade, and organized a 100-year building anniversary party. I revived the lodge’s scholarship program for nurses at Clatsop Community College. I created programs to honor lodge members who have served the lodge by paying dues for 25 or more years with a lifetime membership. I have participated in Masonic funerals, and draped the altar for far too many brothers in the last few years. These are my Masonic duties, what I am called to do. As saddening as it is to see this gem of the west coast slip away, I take heart in knowing that Freemasonry has been around for thousands of years. Many lodges have come and gone in that time: yet Masonry remains. The dusk of one day, only signals the coming dawn. Hopefully, Masonry will find a new way to grow and thrive in a town it has been a crucial part of for these past 170 years.
I don’t know exactly what will become of Seaport Lodge #7, it’s members or its building. But I will do my best to ensure that, if the end is indeed nigh for this chapter, the ashes of what is left will provide fertile ground for something new. Hope may end in fruition, but charity extends from beyond the grave. I hope we can all be charitable, the lodge and its community, in the tough days ahead.
Yours in service,
Quinn Allan Haase, Worshipful Master
