Grand Lodge of Indiana

The Grand Lodge of Indiana Free & Accepted Masons is one of two statewide organizations that oversee Masonic lodges in the state of Indiana. It was established on January 13, 1818.

The first Lodge in Indiana was created by residents of Vincennes, Indiana. They sought a dispensation to create the Lodge from Louisville, Kentucky's Abraham Lodge #8 in 1806. One was granted in 1807, but due to the distance, they were not able to constitute the lodge. After a second dispensation was sought in 1808, a lodge was formed on March 13, 1809 and the officers were initiated. Other lodges in the Indiana Territory founded by the Grand Lodge of Kentucky were Madison (1815), Charlestown (1816), Melchizedek in Salem (1817), Pisgah in Corydon, Lawrenceburg, Rising Sun, and Vevay (1817). On May 9, 1817, the Grand Lodge of Ohio granted a dispensation for Brookville Harmony Lodge in Brookville, Indiana; this lodge would remain under the Grand Lodge of Ohio for two years following the founding of Indiana's Grand Lodge.

After Indiana attained statehood, it qualified for its own Grand Lodge. While attending the annual meeting of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky in September 1817, members of several lodges within the new state agreed to meet in Corydon with representative from all lodges and discuss the viability of forming a Grand Lodge with the State of Indiana. On December 3, 1817, discussion began as to whether a Grand Lodge for Indiana should be formed, 354 days after Indiana gained statehood. Eleven Freemasons from the various lodges in Indiana met in Corydon, and decided to initiate the new Grand Lodge. Amongst these was the first Lieutenant-governor of Indiana, Christopher Harrison. Thus, the Grand Lodge of Indiana was chartered on January 13, 1818, at the presently-named Schofield House, owned by Alexander Lanier, father of James Lanier and a Freemason as well, in Madison, Indiana. Only three Freemasons were at both meetings. The first Grand Master of Indiana was Alexander Buckner of Charlestown, who would later become a United States senator from Missouri.

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