Freemasons For Dummies: Fire Destroys Florida Masonic Hall: Arson Suspected

Thursday, June 15, 2023

Fire Destroys Florida Masonic Hall: Arson Suspected

by Christopher Hodapp

A devastating fire destroyed the Masonic hall in Leesburg, Florida Wednesday night, following a break in. Leesburg Lodge 58 lost everything in the fire that began about 10:30PM, and arson investigators believe the blaze was deliberately set.

The Leesburg lodge hall was also home to The Villages Lodge 394, which had been preparing to celebrate its 25th anniversary with a rededication ceremony Friday night. That event has been postponed indefinitely.

Grand Master Glen E. Bishop of the Grand Lodge of Florida issued a statement today and said that already several lodges in the area have volunteered meeting spaces and other assistance.

Photos: Leesburg Fire Rescue Facebook page

UPDATE 6/16/2023, 11:30PM

The State Fire Marshal's office is still investigating the cause of the fire as of late Friday night, but aerial drone footage from local TV station WFTV-9 shows the extent of the destruction.

1 comment:

AnthonyMon Jun 26, 05:32:00 PM 2023
They captured the arsonist

https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2023/06/23/man-accused-of-torching-leesburg-masonic-lodge/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=snd&utm_content=wkmg6&fbclid=IwAR04hfDxvMaMdOb7PGFJ9tbVtZBn8gU6XCBn7oBRUQ2vs7m9GStg86nTA-8_aem_AZMHOXdflg5GYFr0SUwFSe0_ROubWrf217NkkituRtArhPF_4HwjVDIDQu20oxvNSxA&mibextid=Zxz2cZ
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

ATTENTION!
SIGN YOUR NAME OR OTHERWISE IDENTIFY YOURSELF IN YOUR COMMENT POSTS IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A GOOGLE ACCOUNT.
Your comments will not appear immediately because I am forced to laboriously screen every post. I'm constantly bombarded with spam. Depending on the comments being made, anonymous postings on Masonic topics may be regarded with the same status as cowans and eavesdroppers, as far as I am concerned. If you post with an unknown or anonymous account, do not automatically expect to see your comment appear.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

A mythic past.
A visionary future.
A legendary brotherhood.

Freemasonry is the largest, oldest and best-known gentleman's fraternity in the world. Historically, it is based on the Medieval stonemason guilds who built the great castles and cathedrals of Europe. Mythologically it is founded upon the building of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, as told in the Old Testament of the Bible.

Modern Freemasons likewise use the tools, traditions and terminology of those Biblical stonemasons as allegories for building Temples in the hearts of men, using Solomon as our ideal example of wisdom, justice and faith.

At its core, Freemasonry is simply an attempt to make the world a better place, one man at a time. For each man, it can become as simple or as complicated as he himself desires.

It's said that we are a secret society. We do indeed have secrets—secrets that each individual man has to discover for and about himself.

It's not for everybody. It never has been, and was never meant to be. That's the point.

Maybe it's for you.

Christopher L. Hodapp is the author of Freemasons For Dummies, the international, best-selling introduction to the Masonic fraternity; and Solomon's Builders: Freemasons, Founding Fathers and the Secrets of Washington D.C.. His most recent Masonic book, Heritage Endures, was published in January 2018.

Since 2009 he has been on the Board of the Masonic Library & Museum of Indiana, and serves as its Associate Director and Treasurer. In 2021, Chris was named as Public Relations and Marketing Director for the Grand Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons of the State of Indiana.

Chris is also the co-author with Alice Von Kannon of The Templar Code For Dummies and Conspiracy Theories And Secret Societies For Dummies.

As a Freemason, Chris is a Past Master of Broad Ripple Lodge No. 643 and of Lodge Vitruvian No. 767 under the Grand Lodge F&AM of Indiana; he is a member of Indiana's Schofield Lodge 1818 U.D.; and of Internet Lodge No. 9659 in the Province of East Lancashire of the United Grand Lodge of England. Most recently, he served as the Worshipful Master of the Dwight L. Smith Lodge of Research U.D. in Indiana for 2019-21.

In 2018 he was awarded the Caleb B. Smith Medal of Honor by the Grand Lodge F&AM of Indiana for his "distinguished service to Freemasonry in Indiana and worldwide."

Chris is a 33° Mason in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite (NMJ), Indianapolis Valley. He is a Past Sovereign Master of Imhotep Council No. 434 of the Allied Masonic Degrees. He is a founding member of Levant Preceptory, a medieval Knights Templar period recreation degree team in the York Rite, and he is an officer of the Indiana College of the Societas Rosicruciana in Civitatibus Foederatis. He belongs to numerous other Masonic appendant organizations.

As a Masonic author, in 2012 he was named as Friar No. 101 in the Society of Blue Friars. Chris is a Founding Fellow of The Masonic Society, and was the founding Editor in Chief of The Journal of The Masonic Society. He was the editor and a contributor in 2004-5 to "Laudable Pursuit: A 21st Century Response to Dwight Smith" by the Knights of the North, a Masonic leadership think-tank focusing on modern lodge solutions. He has written for Indianapolis Monthly, Heredom, Masonic Magazine, Templar History, the Scottish Rite Journal, the Knight Templar Magazine, the Indiana Freemason , the Phylaxis, and numerous other publications.

For 23 years, Chris was a commercial filmmaker with Dean Crow Productions in Indianapolis. Hodapp and Alice Von Kannon developed scripts for the History Channel program, Brad Meltzer's Decoded in 2010, and contributed material on conspiracies and secret societies for TruTV and the American Heroes Channel. They have both appeared on National Public Radio, the History Channel, Discovery, National Geographic, Smithsonian, and the American Heroes Channel - most recently in the 2021 episode of America's Book of Secrets - The Freemason Factor for History and Prometheus Productions.

Chris and Alice reside in Indianapolis with Sophie the Flying Poodle who has them both answering to basic commands. However, they can frequently be found alarming the wildlife and dazzling the rustiks in their Airstream trailer as they crisscross the country. Appropriately, their newest books together are RVs and Campers For Dummies, released in June 2021; and RV Vacations For Dummies - 7th Edition, released in June 2023.

APPEARANCES

Contact Chris directly to enquire about speaking at your event.

2024

April 16, 2024
Pelham Lodge, New York

May 21, 2024
Grand Lodge of Indiana Annual Communication, Indianapolis, IN

May 25, 2024
Grand Lodge of British Columbia & Yukon Grand Masonic Day, Vancouver

June 17, 2024
Nutley Lodge #25, Nutley, NJ

September 14, 2024
Maryland Masonic Symposium w/Brent Morris - "An Idiot and a Dummy Tell You All There Is To Know About Freemasonry"

November 9, 2024
Masters & Wardens Association, Indianapolis, IN

2025

June 2025
Denver Scottish Rite, Denver, CO

M.A.T.S.O.L.

The Worldwide Exemplification
of Freemasonry
Online Video Lecture Series

Presented by
Masonic Awareness At The Speed of Light
• • •
Endorsed by the Grand Lodge of Indiana

CLICK HERE

Are you a Traveling Man?
If you are a Freemason who travels anywhere, you need to download the Amity app to your smartphone. Immediately.

Instantly identify lodges in all mainstream and Prince Hall U.S. jurisdictions, Canada, and more than 50 other countries. Determine a lodge's Masonic regularity immediately, and whether your own grand lodge is in amity with theirs, all on your phone.Apart from my own books, I don't advertise products here as a rule, but this service is absolutely free of charge, created by and for Freemasons, and with the cooperation of grand lodges all around the world.For more information, CLICK HERE.