By John W. Miller, Past Master of Collins-Spring Valley Lodge
BALDWIN, WI – On June 10, 2024, the Collins-Spring Valley Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons (F. & A. M.) of Wisconsin in Baldwin celebrated its 150th year since receiving its Charter from the Grand Lodge of Wisconsin; and to celebrate this event, the Lodge will be hosting a free pancake breakfast to anyone who stops by the Baldwin American Legion Post at 410 Maple Street between 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM on Sunday, September 29, 2024.
Free Masonry is an organization that a lot of people know very little about. In fact, there are probably a number of Baldwin residents who didn’t know that a Free Mason Lodge existed right in downtown Baldwin for the last 150 years. This is probably in part due to most Lodges doing a poor job of letting their fellow citizens know of their very presence.
On December 4, 1874, the Village of Baldwin was incorporated by the Wisconsin State Legislature, but there was a problem. Part of the Village line to the West was outside the town of Baldwin’s property line. This line was marked by the town line road. So, the land west of the road was considered in the town of Hammond. Therefore, taxes on that property had to be paid to the treasurer of Hammond and not Baldwin. Once again, D. R. Bailey rose to the occasion and worked on negotiating the annexation of that land to the West. It wasn’t until February 1876 that Bailey succeeded with the State Legislature to have 40 acres released by Hammond and annexed to the Village of Balwin. Unfortunately, the people of Hammond were not very pleased with this move by Mr. Bailey.
So, the Village of Baldwin and the Free Masons of Collins-Spring Valley Lodge No. 192 have been explicitly linked since our beginnings over 150 years ago.
In 1884, Bailey Lodge moved from the D. R. Bailey Building to the second floor of the Security State Bank Building, which was on the North side of Front Street on the Northeast corner of Front Street (Main St.) and 3rd Street (8th St.). This is the current building that Collins-Spring Valley Lodge No. 192, F. & A. M. owns today.
On June 10, 1884, the Lodge submitted a resolution to change its name from Bailey Lodge to Collins Lodge in honor Past Grand Master Charles F. G. Collins, who was the Grand Master of Wisconsin in 1878 and 1879. Grand Master Collins was elected Grand Secretary in 1883, but only served briefly, because he died in a fire in December of that year while he tried to save his property from total destruction.
The area of Spring Valley, Wisconsin was established as a logging community in 1857 when Logging crews followed the Eau Galle River upstream from the sawmill in Eau Galle and a number of small establishments followed to meet the loggers’ needs. In 1861, Spring Valley saw its first family settle in the area and a schoolhouse was built in 1867. A post office later opened in the Village in 1870, and a watermill was built in 1874.
Iron ore was then discovered in 1876, but the mining wasn’t started until 1891, or 1892, when the Eagle Iron and then the Spring Valley Iron and Ore Companies began smelting the iron into pig iron. This brought a larger influx of people to the area and the Village of Spring Valley sprang up almost overnight. As the population of Spring Valley grew, a number of workmen moving to the area were miners, smelters, and businessmen. Many of these men brought their families along. Also, a number of these men were Freemasons.
These Spring Valley Masons soon discovered a number of masonic lodges within a day’s ride of their village, and they tried to visit these lodges when time permitted. It was around 1893 that the Masonic Lodges of Durand Lodge No. 149, Collins Lodge No. 192 in Baldwin, Maiden Rock Lodge No. 196 and Hancock Lodge No. 229 in Ellsworth advised their brethren in Spring Valley to consider forming a new lodge in their village. So, the Masons of Spring Valley petitioned the Masonic Grand Lodge of Wisconsin and received a dispensation to form a new lodge on December 27, 1893. Then in June 1894, Spring Valley Lodge No. 262, F. & A. M. received its Charter from the Grand Lodge of Wisconsin. It was said that the first Master of the new lodge, Charles Haun, had actually walked 250 miles to see his family in Dodge County and to collect the new Charter of the Spring Valley Lodge. It was later, in 1895, that the Village of Spring Valley received its incorporation from the Wisconsin State Legislature.
Baldwin and Spring Valley would cement their commonality when Collins Lodge No. 192 and Spring Valley Lodge No. 262 voted to merge their two Lodges due to declining enrollment and waning interest in Spring Valley. So, the merger was authorized by the Grand Lodge of Wisconsin and on May 14, 2004, the two Lodges change their name to Collins-Spring Valley Lodge No. 192, F. & A. M. in Baldwin. This name change has confused some people who thought that the Lodge was located in Spring Valley, but the Lodge has remained in Baldwin and there are no plans to move, because the Lodge building in Spring Valley had been sold. However, there has been recent talk amongst the Lodge members to consider another name change that would more readily reflect the Lodge’s location. For now, however, the name will remain, and we’ll see what the future has in store for the Free Masons of Baldwin and Spring Valley, Wisconsin.
The Collins-Spring Valley Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons (F. & A. M.) of Wisconsin in Baldwin celebrated its 150th year since receiving its Charter from the Grand Lodge of Wisconsin; and to celebrate this event, the Lodge will be hosting a free pancake breakfast to anyone who stops by the Baldwin American Legion Post at 410 Maple Street between 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM on Sunday, September 29, 2024. The community is invited to help us celebrate this milestone in our Mason history in the area and we hope you can join us for this free meal together!
