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A Brief History
Caddo Grove Masonic Lodge #352 is an active AF&AM Texas Freemason chapter originally established in Caddo Grove and now operating out of Joshua, Texas. As a traditional Texas moonlight lodge, our members gather for stated meetings on the Mondays on or before the full moon. We foster strong fraternal bonds and personal growth for men seeking a meaningful brotherhood in the Joshua, Godley, Cleburne and surrounding areas. By preserving historic Masonic values, our members build lifelong friendships rooted in morality, charity, and mutual support across Northwest Johnson County Texas.
Our journey began in the nearby town of Caddo Grove, where we were chartered in 1872. However, when the railroad bypassed the town in 1884, the community relocated two miles north to Joshua. The Lodge moved right along with its neighbors between 1885 and 1886, establishing the very grounds we call home today. While our original lodge building was replaced with a new structure in 1937, our deep roots in this soil have never changed. Caddo Grove Masonic Lodge #352 is possibly the longest-serving organization in Joshua.
Caddo Grove Lodge #352 holds a unique place in Masonic history as one of the few remaining "Moon Lodges" (or Lunar Lodges). In the days before cars, electricity, and streetlights, rural brethren met on the night of the Full Moon. This allowed members to navigate the dark Texas countryside and travel back to their homesteads safely by moonlight. Today, we proudly preserve this rich heritage as we continue to serve the Joshua, Godley and Cleburne communities.
Texas Freemasonry is a serious and foundational fraternity designed to take good men and guide them toward personal improvement. While its true beginnings are obscured by history, Freemasonry stands as the oldest surviving fraternal organization in the world. The fraternity's lineage can be definitively traced to 16th-century Scotland, though the earliest recorded Masonic text—the Regius Poem—dates to approximately 1390 A.D.
Between 1390 and 1717, lodges of operative stonemasons gradually began accepting non-builders into their ranks. This evolution eventually birthed entirely speculative lodges, where men of diverse occupations gathered to share a ritual rich with architectural allegory. In 1717, four English lodges convened to establish the first Grand Lodge, establishing a model of geographical jurisdiction that endures today, where every state maintains its own sovereign Grand Lodge.
Symbolic, Craft, or Blue Lodge Masonry has three degrees. The three degrees are, in order: Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason. In early Speculative Masonry there was only one degree. Later a two-degree system developed and finally the three-degree system of today evolved and was firmly in place by around 1760 A.D.
Masonry is not a religion. There is nothing in Freemasonry to interfere with a man’s religious life. Persons of all faiths and Christian denominations are a part of the worldwide Masonic fraternity. Religion and politics are two subjects not allowed to be discussed when a lodge is in session
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