| Marker Text |
Concord Lodge No. 77, A.F. & A.M.. was organized in 1850, receiving dispensation on Nov. 15 of that year. It was chartered Jan. 22, 1851, with 14 members: E. A. Geeter, N. M. Goode, N. Jones, J. B. Long, W. H. Luckie, J. R. McCartey, Neal McLane, S. S. Morris, W. C. Moseley, J. H. Price, R. E. Rhodes, J. L. Smith, G. W. Whitmore, A. B. Wright. The lodge met at first in the house of McCartey. The nine-acre site here was donated on April 28, 1853, by the owner of the original Republic of Texas grant, Spencer C. Wadlington (1790-1857), to trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church South: S. F. Allston, T. C. Bentley, W. C. Crawford, W. D. Jefferson, B. H. Martin, J. S. Powell, A. B. Stone, and Oliver Thompson. A two-story building was erected on the site and was used for many years by the church and the lodge. The adjacent land became the community cemetery, with oldest stone marking the grave of Ophelia Polk Swanson, who died on March 15, 1850. The lodge was demised in 1880; later Concord Church disbanded. The building stood until the 1930s. Site was deeded (1970) by Texas Annual Conference of United Methodist Church, south Central Jurisdiction, to the Concord Cemetery Association, chartered 1970. |
