The first mention of Royal Arch Masonry in Ontario was 1787 when a Holy Royal Arch degree was conferred in Lodge No. 156, Grand Lodge of England (Ancients) of the 8th Regiment of Foot of the British Army in Niagara. A Royal Arch Chapter was founded at Kingston in 1795 and a Grand Chapter was formed there in 1818 but it only lasted till 1831. Our current Grand Chapter dates to 1857.
Despite this antiquity, Caledonia Chapter No. 236 is the youngest of the seven chapters in District Six, with the oldest, Hiram No. 2, predating it by over a hundred years.
Caledonia Chapter No. 236 received a dispensation on 16 March 1922 and is recorded as being “instituted” a month later on 11 April 1922 and then being granted a charter on 28 February 1923. Whichever date is chosen as our birthday, we are a “Centennial” Chapter.
The first officers and Charter Members were:
- Z Charles Fortune, 57, gentleman, died 1938
- H Joseph Duns, 51, blacksmith, died 1957
- J David A. Smith, farmer of Glanford Station, no lodge listed, suspended 1929
- SE Thomas J.”TJ” Hicks, 42, teacher, died 1967
- SN John Douglas, farmer, died 1923
- Treasurer Charles S. Springer, agent, died 1955
- PS William Douglas, farmer,
- SS William H. Brierley, 53, Port Master
- JS H,C, Howden
- 1st V Russell J. Shaw, 28, Bell Telephone,
- 2nd Veil Arthur Welby Smith, farmer, resigned 1928
- 3rd Veil Harrison Arrell
- 4th Veil H.R. HowdenJanitor (changed to Outer Guard 1932) Albert Martineau (held this position for at least twenty years)
- Adam Beattie, agent, no position, suspended 1929.
Note: there are two H. Howdens on the roll, i.e. Harold Howden, 33, farmer, and Herbert Howden, 37, farmer. It is unclear which is which above. Harrison Arrell, the well known Caledonia lawyer, was not a charter member but was the first candidate for the chapter.
Of the thirteen charter members all but David Smith belonged to St. Andrew’s No. 62 while he had no lodge listed. All but T.J. Hicks belonged to Ancaster Chapter No. 153 while he belonged to Ezra Chapter No. 23.
During the Chapter’s first year in 1922, the fourteen charter members were joined by fourteen candidates who were advanced, received and exalted, and one affiliation, giving a membership of twenty-nine at year’s end.
This pace was kept up in 1923 with another nine candidates advanced, received and exalted. By 1930, there were fifty-eight companions on the roll. However, in the ten year period from 1932 to 1941, there were a total of only six degrees with two periods of three years each in which there were no degrees at all.
From the beginning, Caledonia Chapter No. 236 has been co-located with St. Andrew’s Lodge No. 62. The lodge room on the third floor of the Opera House on the north-east corner of Argyle and Caithness was dedicated as a Chapter Room on 6 June 1923.
In the early morning hours of Thursday, 19 June, 1947, the building was destroyed by fire with most of the Chapter’s belongings and records destroyed, with the exception of the VOTSL, which bears a scorch mark from the triangle, and the keystone, now a smoky brown instead of white.
The chapter moved with the lodge to the Eastern Star hall across the street above the Caledonia Milling Company feed store and then north along Argyle Street to the Sheldon Block where The Medicine Shoppe is now located. In 1954, St. Andrew’s Lodge purchased an old army hut from the City of Hamilton and had it moved to its current location just south of the railway tracks on land purchased from St. Paul’s Anglican Church, and 30 March 1955, the lodge room was dedicated as a Chapter Room.
Over the last hundred years, nine companions from Caledonia Chapter have served as Grand Superintendents:
- 1930 Charles Fortune
- 1943 T.J. Hicks (pttgla 1967)
- 1955 Herbert Stewart Merrall (pttgla 1971), owned store at the south-east corner of Argyle & Caithness
- 1964 John Nelson Aldridge (1913-1997)
- 1973 Charles Matteson (1913-1996)
- 1983 Louis Leousis (1925 – 2018
- 1993 Ron McClung
- 2002 Leslie Yule
- 2011 Dennis Hill
- 2018 Lanny Salmon (pttgla 2023)
Other Grand Chapter officers have been:
Harold Cruikshank Grand Master of the 3rd Veil – 2007
Ron McClung Grand Principal Sojourner
Glenn Harvey Grand Steward
George Dring Grand Steward
Vince McCurdy Grand Master of the 4th Veil