Melrose Lodge No. 139, A.F. & A.M.

                                                               Roanoke, Virginia

In 1927, a group of Masons, most of whom were members of Lakeland Lodge No. 190, and who were mostly employed by the Norfolk and Western Railroad, and who mostly lived in the North West area of Roanoke, decided to establish a Lodge in that section of town. They applied to the Grand Lodge of Virginia for a charter, which was granted on February 15, 1928. Worshipful James H. Evans arranged with the Carter brothers, who later became members, to rent the upstairs over their grocery store on the corner of Thirteenth Street and Melrose Avenue and convert it into a Lodge hall. The Lodge furniture was purchased from the Order of the Eagles. The Lodge was heated by a coal stove and on at least one occasion this stove blew up, spraying soot on everyone and everything. Harry R. Lucas was the first member raised in the Lodge under dispensation on July 7, 1927.

The Lodge suffered thru the great depression like everyone else. After the depression, the Lodge began a slow but steady period of growth and with growth came dreams of owing its own Lodge building. As Roanoke was growing to the West, toward Salem, land was purchased about eighteen blocks West of Carters Store on the corner of Twenty-first Street and Carroll Avenue, to be the site of the new Lodge. The secretary at the time, Right Worshipful Fred W. Nover, was a draftsman for Roanoke Iron and Bridge Works, and he designed the new building. An extensive building fund program was undertaken and then finally a loan was taken to complete the new building. The first meeting was held on September 14, 1953.

The Lodge continued to flourish. By 1974 the neighborhood had deteriorated and the members voted to sell the building. The last meeting was held in this building on May 14, 1979. Melrose Lodge No. 139 moved in with Vinton Lodge No. 204, and then moved in with Lakeland Lodge No. 190, on December 13, 1982.

In 1983, the Lodge voted to purchase two acres on Shadwell Drive, in Roanoke County and in 1984, Creative Construction, under the direction of Most Worshipful William T. Watkins, Past Grand Master, built a shell type building. Many of the members donated materials, money and labor to finish the interior of the building. On March 11, 1985, the first meeting was held in the new Lodge room.