After an apparent full and free discussion the following resolution was adapted: “That we deep it expedient now to take the necessary steps to procure a Dispensation from the Most Worshipful Grand Master to organize a Lodge in the place.”

September 12, 1861, the committee appointed at the foregoing meeting, presented the Dispensation, which it was authorized to procure, to the group who had assembled to hear what progress had been made.

After acceptance of said Dispensation from the Grand Lodge, given under the Most Worshipful Grand Master Thomas R. Austin and Grand Secretary Francis King and sealed on the 1st of August, 1861, it was decided to “open and organize a Lodge in accordance with the powers and privileges delegated in said Dispensation.

The following officers were delegated by the Dispensation:

The permanent charter was issued the 27th day of May, 1862, under the Most Worshipful Grand Master John B. Fravel; William Hacker, Deputy Grand Master; H. G. Hazelrigg, Senior Grand Warden: W. J. Millard Jr., Junior Grand Warden, and Francis King, Grand Secretary. For some years afterward Temperance Hall contiuned to be the meeting place for the Lodge. On May 19, 1864, a motion was made to move the Lodge to Fairland and was passed by a majority vote. At a meeting on January 14, 1865, a resolution was read from the Grand Lodge to change the location of the Lodge to Fairland, retaining its present name and number.

On June 5, 1873, a building committee of 5 members was appointed to superintend the building of a Masonic Hall in the town of Fairland, Indiana. The building was to be 22 feet X 66 feet and to be built suitable for a Lodge Hall and as a second story to a building being constructed by J.L. Carson and R. Smith. On October 2, 1873, an order of $300 was drawn upon the treasurer in favor of the Building Committee. Some of the additional expenses incurred by the Lodge for their new building included: 2 chandeliers - $14.00, candles - $1.32, Spitoons - $14.50, lamp wicks - $ .45, stoves - $16.20, and a stone and lettering - $25.00. The exact date of the first meeting in the new hall was not revealed by the records. However, April 30, 1874, the building and contents were insured and July 23, 1874, J. L. Carson and R. Smith presented a deed for the hall, which was “accepted and approved”, thus intimating that the first meeting in the new hall must have been late in 1873, or in early 1874, possibly the latter.

For the next several years the Lodge met in the aforementioned hall located over what was known as the R. T. Smith store. In 1934, the Masonic Lodge purchased the Hall occupied by the order of Knights of Pythias, situated on the second floor of a building just three doors west over a business establishment, which for the last quarter of a century, has been occupied by implement dealers. The stone, which was used with the first Lodge Hall, was moved to this new location.

On April 10, 1947, a committee of 9 members was appointed to procure the ground floor of the building under the Lodge Hall. After procurement the ground floor was refinished and redecorated to be used as a dining hall. Coal and oil stoves heated the Lodge Hall and Dining Hall until 1959 when a new furnace was installed.

Hall of Sugar Creek Lodge No. 279, F. & A. M., Fairland, Indiana, Saturday, June 16, A.D. 1960, A. L. 5960. “With a firm belief in the Supreme Architect of the Universe,” Sugar Creek Lodge No. 279, Free and Accepted Masons, has completed a century of labor in this community.

The following officers recorded for the June 16, 1962, Centennial celebration include:

TRUSTEES

50 – Year Members Edghill T. Burnside, Kenneth F. Hardy, William E. Jones, Ashler T. Milner, and Joseph E. Terman, who at this time is the oldest living member and was born, June 9, 1867, raised on March 9, 1907.

Officers of the MOST WORSHIPFUL GRAND LODGE, F & AM of Indiana

GRAND LODGE TRUSTEES

A banquet was held at the Fairland School with a rededication of the Lodge Hall by the Grand Lodge Officers, recognition of the Lodges Past Masters and other distinguished members and guests, presentation of 25-year awards and a Centennial Address by Steven L. Miller, Past Grand Master.