Garfield Lodge - History

Garfield Lodge - September 20th, 1882
Garfield Lodge was founded in the mining town of Erie, Colorado by Welsh Miner who worked in the area at that time. The lodge was Chartered by the Grand Lodge of Colorado on September 20th, 1882 The lodge met in a small building in what is now the Grandview section of the town. Around 1900, the lodge building burned and only a few relics remain. The lodge records were spared, so our history continued. We moved to a building on Briggs Street, over a tavern. We rented space in the building 1900 to 1964. In 1964, we moved to the Masonic Temple at 312 Main Street in Longmont the home of St. Vrain Lodge #23. We rented space in the temple until July 2011.
Garfield 50 - 1900 - 1964
Liberty Hall - a new beginning

In the latter part of 2010, WB Roy W. Murray began looking for a new home for Garfield #50. During that search he came across several locations, but one seemed to be the right "fit" for us...Originally founded in 1924 as the Pleasant Hill School, the building functioned as a two classroom schoolhouse for many years until being consolidated with the Mead School District.
Ernie Kitely took back posession of the school in 1950, naming it "Liberty Hall", and used the building to host a Grange Lodge, where it had remained an active part of the community.
As the Grange members got older, and involvement diminished, the space was rented to a small church, who used it from approximately 2003 to 2009, then the building sat empty until 2011.
Pleasant Hill School ~1924
April 2011 - Tour of the Grange Lodge building at Liberty Hall
From the beginning of June 2011 through July 23rd, we spent most of every weekend (some Friday's included) working on the building. It was a labor of love for us - restoring the building to usefull service, not just for our Lodge, but for those who remember the building and what it represented to the community.
There was nothing better than when one of the "Grangers" would stop by to see the progress.
As all things do, this building needed a lot of TLC to bring it back to life.
There were several things that were needed to be completed for a Masonic Body, or any group, to move into the building...namely...we needed a new Roof!
WB Roy Murray worked with a local contractor who added a new steel roof which in Roy's words - "Will last longer than the rest of the building". Now, having a good roof, and a strong foundation, we were ready to begin...
Liberty Hall 2011
It's going to take a lot of work to get this building in shape
Paint, cleaning and some concrete go a long way
We moved in July 23, 2011 and were ready for our first meeting on September 14th