A group of Brothers from the town of Salisbury, Connecticut were originally granted a charter from the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts in 1783 to form a Lodge to be known as Montgomery Lodge. Our original charter contains the signature of Brother Paul Revere, who was Grand Senior Warden of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts at the time. Doubtlessly, the name Montgomery was selected due to the high esteem in which that Brother and General was held and due also to the fact that it is said he had a connection to the town of Salisbury. As was true in those days, the Lodge met in a number of taverns and private homes.

Salisbury was somewhat famous for the high quality iron ore that could be mined from there and was important not only for its contribution to providing cannon balls and other materiel for the Revolutionary War, but also for the chain that was used to seal off New York harbor. The old town was further enhanced by the intersection of two important rail lines. In fact, when the Lodge held its 100th anniversary celebration, trains conveyed more than 10,000 Masons from across the Northeast to the town for the festivities. The old Lodge records indicate that the town’s women folk prepared a meal that was consumed in four sittings of 2,500 men each.

When the Grand Lodge of Connecticut was established in 1789, Montgomery Lodge sought, and was granted a charter from it as Montgomery Lodge No. 13 – one of the original founding Lodges of the Grand Lodge of Connecticut. With the onset of the anti-Masonic feeling that swept the country as a result of the Morgan affair, Montgomery Lodge fell dark. This period of inactivity lasted until around the Civil War. A member of the Lodge who owned an iron works in Lime Rock built a building specifically for the Lodge’s use when it was re-established. Eventually, the Lodge moved back to the Salisbury town center and adjacent Lakeville where it resides to this day.

The Lodge produced one Grand Master in the mid- 1900s, one Harry Bellini. As a result of mergers with several other area Lodges, Montgomery Lodge can now count four of its members as Most Worshipful Past Grand Masters: the aforementioned M.W. Brother Bellini, M.W. Leonard J. Nickerson (Blazing Star #74, Cornwall), GM in 1917; Wesley Gomez (Blazing Star #74) GM in 1976; and Charles Yohe, (originally from Blazing Star #74), GM in 1996 and again in 2015.

For more than 50 years, Montgomery Lodge has held lobster sales fundraisers during the months of June through September.