North Carolina Mason
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/692826
Page 8 The North Carolina Mason May/June 2016
TRAIN, from page 1
of John Untiedt's Master Mason Degree.
A Rowan County Degree team did the
second section. Grand Master Bryant
Webster took the part of King Solomon
in the second section and Past Grand
Lecturer David Potts did the lecture.
If ever there was a community
completely intertwining commerce,
government, and lodge, it would be
Spencer Lodge.
Spencer 543 was part of the com-
munity that sprang up around Spencer
Shops when Southern Railway built
the huge repair shop halfway between
Atlanta and Washington, DC. When
the Richmond and Danville Railroad
went under in 1894, Drexel, Morgan
and Company formed Southern Rail-
way to run the track. ey put Samuel
Spencer, their railroad expert, in charge
of the company. He had previously led
the Baltimore and Ohio.
Updating the defunct rail required
a new back shop, the major repair and
maintenance facility required during
the steam era. ere were no facilities
between Atlanta, GA and Washington,
DC, and one was needed badly.
John Steele Henderson, a short-term
Mason of Dellaplane 355 according to
records, served as a secret purchaser for
the railroad. He was a Salisbury poli-
tician, Confederate war veteran, and
Rowan County's largest landowner.
ey purchased the property for the
back shop and named it Spencer Shops
after Samuel Spencer. e Shops
opened in 1896. Rather than follow the
company town model common at the
time, Southern cut up 84 acres into 500
lots which they sold to employees for
$100 each. In 1901, the 625 residents
of the community were incorporated as
the town of Spencer. In 1905, Spencer
Lodge 543 began.
It is said that anyone who wanted
to work or advance at Spencer Shops
needed to join the lodge. To this day,
the lodge bears many marks of the rail-
road including a caboose door which
leads to the building's basement.
e shops employed nearly 3,000
workers through the end of the steam
era. Steam was phased out through the
1950s-1970s. After the shops closed in
the late '70s, Southern gave the state
the facility for the North Carolina
Transportation Museum. e Museum
opened in 1983. e lodge has long
worked at special events at the mu-
seum conducting fundraisers for mul-
tiple charities.
The Copperhead view of the proceedings was the best elevated.
Burgers and dogs preceded the degree. The ticket to the degree included a
Goldsboro breakfast
GOLDSBORO — Every Wednesday morning, Goldsboro 634 holds Lodge Cof-
fee Break. Masons and their wives go by the lodge from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. and enjoy
each others company. On March 16, they celebrated St. Patrick's Day and Wayne
112 member George Ayscue's 75
th
birthday. Back in April several Shriners attended
and presented a 50-year recognition to Ray Anderson on his 90
th
birthday during
the breakfast meeting. They'd love to have you join them. — Jim Cherry
Truth breakfast
MONROE — Truth 749 is holding a
quarterly fellowship breakfast and invit-
ing all to attend. They held the first one
in February. They had lots of fun with
visiting brothers and family members
who enjoyed each others company and
had a hot breakfast on a cold morning.
— Robert Mullis
MHCO hiring house parent couples
OXFORD — e Masonic Home for Children at Oxford is currently searching for house parent
child care worker couples. e positions offer an excellent pay and benefit package. Minimum require-
ments include a high school diploma or GED and clean driving record. Background checks are required.
Call (919) 603-3905 or visit our website at