Shelby Lodge No. 162, A.F. & A.M.

                                                                 Bristol, Virginia

On February 22, 1856, the Tennessee State legislator acted to incorporate the town of Goodson that is in the State of Tennessee. This action changed Goodson, Tennessee to Bristol, Tennessee. The part of the town that lay in Virginia known as Goodson, Virginia remained the same until 1890 when the Virginia House of Delegates changed it to Bristol, Virginia Incorporated.

Shelby Lodge No. 162 now located in the city of Bristol, Virginia was chartered on December 15, 1857, in the city of Goodson. The Lodge is named after General Shelby who served in the Civil War and lived in what is now Bristol, Virginia.

Right Worshipful L. F. Johnson, a member of Marshall Lodge No. 39 at Lynchburg, Virginia took the lead in securing the charter for a Lodge in Goodson, and served as Worshipful Master of this Lodge from 1858 to 1865.

It is interesting to note that Brother Johnson who signed the petition for dispensation along with others who signed the petition were some of the leaders of the towns of Goodson. Ten Masons from ten different Lodges signed the petition.