On October 8th, 1863 eleven members of Santa Clara lodge No. 34, F. & A. M. who lived in the vicinity of Mountain View and Sunnyvale, held a meeting in the attic of the old Presbyterian Church and signed a petition to the Grand Lodge for a Dispensation to organize a lodge in Mountain View. They also appointed a committee to collect the amounts pledged by the petitioners to cover the cost of furniture, jewels, etc., necessary to start a lodge.

 

Those who signed the petition were: W. Gallimore, W. G. Jones, Wm. Oppenheimer, Samuel Weilheimer, A. J. Hoyt, Wm. Bullard, Christian Meyer, W. N. Bishop, A. F. Beardsley, G. W. Davis, G. W. Smith. (The Jewels, Ashlers, and Pillars they bought are still in use in this lodge [in 1938 and may still be]).

 

The Church stood near the rear of where Mancini's used car building now [1938] stands near Church Street. It was built in 1857 and was claimed to be the first Protestant Church in the Santa Clara Valley. It was dedicated in the summer of 1861, and just fifty years later one Sunday morning while Sunday School was in session, fire was discovered in the belfry and it burned to the ground.

 

The Dispensation was granted, furniture was purchased, and on December 29th, 1868, the Lodge was organized, officers installed, and bylaws which had been drawn up were adopted.

 

Three petitions for degrees were received at this meeting and were voted on at the stated meeting January 30th, 1869.

 

Stated meetings were held on the Tuesday after the full moon in each month. This was changed to the first Tuesday in each month in 1917.

 

There were nine Stated meetings held U. D., and in the eight months between January 30th and September 29th, 1869, there were twenty-three Called meetings.

 

There were eighteen petitions received of whom fourteen were elected.

 

During those eight months there were fourteen candidates initiated; twelve passed, and twelve raised.

 

No meetings were held after September 29th, until November 6th, when the Lodge was regularly instituted and received its Charter and its number.

 

The first Secretary resigned in April 1869, and George Gleason, whose petition was approved at that meeting, received his degrees and was appointed Secretary at the Stated meeting in May.

 

Five Called meetings were held between the Stated meetings on April 20th and May 26th, and both George Gleason and Wm. Dale received their degrees between these dates.