St. John's Masonic Lodge
Coordinates: 43°04′35″N 70°45′15″W / 43.07639°N 70.75417°W
St. John's Lodge in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, United States, is the first Masonic lodge in New Hampshire and was one of two founding lodges of the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire. It was founded either in 1734 or in 1736 and claims to be the oldest continuously operating Masonic lodge in the Americas, a title also claimed by Solomon's Lodge in Savannah, Georgia, which was founded in 1734.
In 1735, six freemasons, who claimed to be of the "Holy and exquisite Lodge of St. John," applied to the Grand Master of the Society of Free and Accepted Masons in Boston to be authorized as a lodge. In their application, dated to both February 5, 1736 and June 25, 1735, they claimed that they had a constitution formed, and it was believed that the petition was granted soon after. According to the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire, "Robert Tomlinson, by virtue of a deputation from the Earl of Loundon, Grand Master of Masons in England, did. in the year 1736, erect and constitute a regular lodge of Free and Accepted Masons in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, by the name of St. John's Lodge." Although the exact date of when the lodge was established is unknown, it is certain that it existed since 1736.
They would be the only lodge in New Hampshire until March 20, 1762, when the Grand Lodge of St. John's allowed for Portsmouth to have a second lodge, St. Patrick's, which was not acted upon until March 30, 1763. When St. Patrick's Lodge discontinued in 1790, its remaining members merged with the St. John's Lodge.
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