Billerica's First Masons - Clinton Lodge

Tombstone of Dr. Zadock Howe at Billerica's Old South Burying Ground

While the Thomas Talbot History Committee of 1939 claimed that Masons could be traced back to the 17^th century in Billerica, it is not until the 1820s that Freemasonry first established a presence, albeit briefly, with the founding of Clinton Lodge. In 1826, noted Billerica physician and educational reformer Dr. Zadock Howe set out to found a Masonic lodge in the town. By June 14^th, of that year Dr. Howe and his fellow Billerica Masons were issued a charter by the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts for a Clinton Lodge, named after New York Governor and Mason DeWitt Clinton. Unfortunately for Brother Howe and the new Clinton Lodge, 1826 was also the year of the controversial murder of anti-Mason William Morgan which would be an event that would create decades of anti-Masonic sentiment and close hundreds of lodges across the country.

Unfortunately for Clinton Lodge, they became a victim of this sentiment. Threatened with bodily harm by anti-Masonic Billerica residents Dr. Zadock Howe and the Masons of Clinton Lodge suffered a massive loss in 1828 when their building on Boston Road burned to the ground along with all of the jewels, furniture, and records that belonged to the lodge. 1828 would be the last year that the Grand Lodge received any record of Clinton Lodge.

It would be another 60 years before, in 1888, another group of Masons would more successfully bring a lodge to Billerica.