Deming Lodge No. 12
Meets on the First Thursday of Each Month, at 7:30pm, Meal at 6:30 before Lodge.
Address
- Street: 1600 S 8th St
- City: Deming
Contact
- Secretary: Dick Ribble
- Telephone: 575-494-1219
- E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
- Website: www.demingmasoniclodge12.org
On the map
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The railroad was important to a lodge that was formed in 1883, as the residents of Deming believed their town was headed for greatness. The Southern Pacific, building from both east and west, met at Deming in March, 1881 and was joined at Deming by the Santa Fe RR from the north. Plans were being formed to extend a road from Guaymas, Mexico on the Gulf of California, and Deming was to be the big shop point between Topeka and Guaymas. Greed of some Deming citizens who squatted on two sections of land desired by the Sante Fe RR caused the Sante Fe to abandon plans to build on west and instead went west from Belen. The dreams thus faded.
Enough Masons had moved to Deming by 1883 and application was made for a dispensation for a lodge from the Grand Lodge. It was forthcoming on September from Grand Master John B. Wootten. The charter was granted at the annual session in Silver City, and was signed by Grand Master William B. Childers on December 13th. H.H. Kidder was the first Master.
Deming Lodge met in two different locations before moving to their present location. Grand Master Stuart Tracey presided in August 1974 at the dedication, assisted by several Grand Lodge officers. Following the dedication, the third annual outdoor meeting was held in the nearby Florida Mountains.
Deming Lodge perhaps presented more degree work than any lodge in the nation during World War I. Camp Cody was located near Deming and several hundred degrees were presented with degree teams working twenty-four hours a day, six days a week, in shifts of eight hours each, conferring 14 degrees during each shift to soldiers stationed at the camp. In 1918 alone, Deming Lodge conferred 873 degrees which was 79 percent of all degrees conferred by New Mexico lodges during the war.
Three Deming Lodge members served with distinction as Grand Masters: A.W. Pollard, 1915-1916; H. Stanley Dennis, 1959-1960; and William T. Beckett, 2001-2002.
Members of the Ballut Abyad Shrine and Order of the Eastern Star are appendent bodies of the lodge.
