Hill City Lodge No 183, A.F. & A.M.

                                                             Lynchburg, Virginia

The formation of Hill City Lodge No. 183 was the result of the wishes of a number of members of Marshall Lodge No. 39 who wished to have the honor and opportunity to hold Masonic office. It was the custom in that Lodge to continue one Worshipful Master with one staff of officers from year to year so long as they did not decline the election, resign, or get called to the celestial Lodge.

This Lodges first record has no date and it reads as follows: “It is due to the proper understanding of the following record that the subjoined copy of a letter written by Worshipful James L. Brown to the Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Virginia, and the dispensation granted by said Grand Lodge, should be inserted here; also, the proceedings held by Marshall Lodge No. 39, recommending said dispensation.”

On May 7, 1859, the records show, by a letter written by Worshipful James L. Brown to the Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Virginia, that Marshall Lodge No. 39 gave her formal recommendation that the new Lodge be formed with the name “Hill City.” The dispensation was issued May 26, 1859. Worshipful James L. Brown served as Hill City Lodges first Worshipful Master. Charter members include James L. Brown, Alexis Alexander, W. H. Stratton, Christopher V. Winfree, P. D. Christian, Camillus Christian, Charles A. Calhoun, John R. Holcombe, E. Newman Eubank, Stephen T. Peters, Robert M. McKinney, and Henry C. Victor. The Grand Master of Masons in Virginia was Most Worshipful John Robin McDaniel

The communication held June 19, 1859, was one of the most important ever held by the Lodge. It was on this date that the members were first privileged to nominate and elect their own officers. The first elected Worshipful Mater was Worshipful John. H. Seay, who was installed on July 17, 1860. His guidance through most of the next seventeen years proved him to be a wise choice, as the Lodge grew rapidly and prospered well. A firm foundation was laid in those early years for the future prosperity of the Lodge.                                                                

Hill City Lodge No. 183 has been active in the functions of the Grand Lodge of Virginia. In 1952 this Lodge requested that information be sent to the subordinate Lodge prior to the Grand Lodge meeting so that subordinate Lodges could discuss what was to be presented in the Grand Lodge meeting before it was presented to the Grand Lodge. Members of Hill City Lodge who served in the Grand Lodge include: Right Worshipful Lewis C. Bell, Grand Lecturer 1903; Most Worshipful William Conway Vaughan, Grand Master of Masons in Virginia in 1973; and Worshipful David Rubinberg, Associate Grand Chaplin, 1988.

It is appropriate to conclude with an excerpt of “Hill City Lodge No. 183 Centennial Year History.” “The years which have flowed beneath the pens of those keeping the records of Hill City Lodge have been both kind and cruel. Each year has left its mark as it has served to move Masonry ahead in Lynchburg, in the District, in the State and in the lives of Masons living the world over.”