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About Us - Stockton Valley - 1904

    Tuleburg, California was founded in 1841 as a land development  plan. After gold was discovered nearby in 1848, the town incorporated and changed its name to Stockton. A Charter was issued to San Joaquin Lodge No. 19 on May 5, 1852 and two years later a second Lodge, Morning Star No. 68, was chartered. By the year 1900 the combined membership of the two lodges was 274 and Masonry continued to grow.     It was thought to be time for a Scottish Rite in Stockton and the Hartley Lodge of Perfection was organized in 1869. However, after 21 years with no meetings and only 11 members, the Charter was revoked in 1891. In May, 1904, a group of Master Masons, some of them Scottish Rite brothers, met at the old Masonic Hall on El Dorado and Channel Streets to organize and charter Stockton Lodge of Perfection No. 2. The Albert Pike Chapter of Rose Croix No. 9 was instituted on January 31, 1906 and the W. Frank Pierce Council of Kadosh No. 9 were on April 1, 1911.     By the year 1910 the membership of the Bodies was 256. With no Consistory, the Stockton brethren had to travel to Oakland or San Francisco to receive the Consistory degrees. On November 1, 1922, Stockton Consistory was duly constituted. The Bodies continued to grow and at the end of 1930 records show a membership of 731. During the Great Depression the membership held up well, with 656 in 1945. In the next two decades it had recovered to 2,523 in 1955.     The Building Committee, for the third time, searched for a suitable site to erect a new Temple. On Saturday, April 12 1960, the Stockton Scottish Rite Temple at 33 Alpine Avenue was dedicated. The Lodge Room seats 820 and the banquet room seats 800. The building contains all the necessary rooms and equipment to confer all the degrees. (1)     Bibliography Sources         My thanks to all those, names and nameless, who helped me amass the materials used in compiling this history of the Orient of California. Ill:. Robert D. Haas 33° 1.  California First Century of Scottish Rite      Masonry p. 215 ff.      Stockton Bodies

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