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History of St. John's Lodge no 3

On October 22nd, 1787, a Royal Artillery detachment, based in Quebec City, received, from the Grand Lodge of England (Antients), a charter allowing it to form a lodge carrying the number 241. This lodge was thus constituted on May 30th, 1788.

After the union of both Grand Lodges of England, in 1813, Lodge No. 214 became Lodge No. 302, affiliated to the United Grand Lodge of England, and adopted the name «St. John's Lodge».

In 1832, a new change in number occured: the United Grand Lodge reviewed the lodges' numbers to fill certain numbers that were left unused. On this occasion, St John's Lodge No. 302 became St. John's Lodge No. 214.

In 1852, the Military Charter, which was in bad shape, was replaced by a new Civil Charter.

In 1863, the United Grand Lodge of England reshuffled the lodges' numbers. St. John's Lodge No. 214 adopted number 182.

On October 20th, 1869, St. John's Lodge No. 182 joined a group of lodges for the sole purpose of forming a Grand Lodge of Quebec. The R.W.Bro. F. James Dunbar, a member of the lodge, was voted president of this group. The Grand Lodge of Quebec was created the following day, on October 21th, 1869.

Under the new jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Quebec, St. John's Lodge was granted the number 1. Following the recommendation of a Grand Lodge committee created to review the lodges' number assignments, St. John's Lodge became, in 1877, No. 3 on the registry of the Grand Lodge of Quebec.

More recently, on January 19th, 1981, St. Andrew's Lodge No. 6 and Tuscan Lodge No. 28 were amalgamated with St. John's Lodge.

Today, St. John's Lodge carries on its masonic activities and offers english-speaking freemasons, from Quebec City and its surroundings, the opportunity to practice their rituals in English.

Many brethren from St. John's Lodge have marked the history of Quebec freemasonry. Amongst these were:

• Right Wor. Bro. F. James Dunbar, president of the committee that created the Grand Lodge of Quebec in 1869, and second Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Quebec in 1874 and 1876.
• Most Wor. Bro. Thomas Douglas Harington, Provincial Grand Master of the district of Quebec and Three-Rivers from 1852 to 1857, and Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Canada in Ontario from 1860 to 1864.
• Most Wor. Bro. William Worwood, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Quebec in 1979 and 1980.

Amongst the many places that were used for lodge's meetings, we can find a room on the second floor of the tavern "Soleil" on St. Jean street (Quebec), a room at the "Chien d'Or" on Buade street, as well as rooms in several hotels in this city. Since 1862, all the meetings have been held at 51, des Jardins Street (Quebec), where the Masonic Temple is located.