Masonic Lodge No. 180 completes repairs to hall

By Tammy Vinson Reporter on Friday, September 22, 2023
  • (Above) The March 3 storm knocked dozens of bricks off the western wall of the Hopkins Lodge No. 180 building in Cumby. The building was heavily damaged, but Lodge members were able to make repairs. (Left) The floors of the Masonic Lodge No. 180 in Cumby sustained heavy water damage during a severe thunderstorm Friday, March 3.
    (Above) The March 3 storm knocked dozens of bricks off the western wall of the Hopkins Lodge No. 180 building in Cumby. The building was heavily damaged, but Lodge members were able to make repairs. (Left) The floors of the Masonic Lodge No. 180 in Cumby sustained heavy water damage during a severe thunderstorm Friday, March 3.
  • Masonic Lodge No. 180 completes repairs to hall
    Masonic Lodge No. 180 completes repairs to hall
  • Hopkins Masonic Lodge No. 180 members building recently completed all the necessary repairs to the lodge hall, which was heavily damaged during a severe storm March 3. An open house Saturday, Sept. 9 showed off the results of several months worth of repair work.
    Hopkins Masonic Lodge No. 180 members building recently completed all the necessary repairs to the lodge hall, which was heavily damaged during a severe storm March 3. An open house Saturday, Sept. 9 showed off the results of several months worth of repair work.

| Cumby

Hopkins Masonic Lodge No. 180, located in Cumby, recently completed repairs after its building was severely damaged during a March rainstorm.

The members of Lodge No. 180 held an open house on Saturday, Sept. 9 , after participating in the cornerstone leveling ceremony for Cumby Collegiate ISD’s new high school building, which is nearing completion.

Hopkins Lodge No. 180 received its charter in January 1856. It is chartered through the Grand Lodge of Texas, A.F. & A.M. (Ancient Free and Accepted Masons), which in turn, is recognized by the United Grand Lodge of England. At age 154, Lodge No. 180 is the oldest of three Masonic Lodges in Hopkins County.

The Lodge is housed in what used to be the Cumby Post Office at the corner of Main Street and FM 499 The storm struck Hopkins County on the night of Friday, March 3, spawning a tornado near Pickton, along with heavy rain and high winds countywide.

“It was a bad storm,” Treasurer Robert Cash recalled. “We [Lodge No. 180 members] rushed up there as soon as we could. The front exterior wall had separated from the interior, and rain was coming in. We knew it was going to be bad, but we couldn’t tell how bad it was going to be.”

Cash’s son Hunter, who serves as Senior Warden of the Lodge, said the first thing they grabbed was the framed charter hanging on the north wall of the meeting room. It sustained some water damage, but was otherwise intact.

The next morning, Cash and his Masonic brothers rushed back to the Lodge to determine how much damage had occurred. The upstairs meeting room, directly behind the exterior north facing wall, was flooded. They scrambled to pull up carpets in hopes of preventing more damage to the polished wood floors underneath. In the central hallway, water had made its way to the subfloor, which was soaked.

Dozens of bricks had fallen from the exterior wall of the lodge, along with a large piece of the window, littering the street below.

“It was just sickening,” Cash said. “Just made us all sick seeing all the damage.”

Hopkins Lodge No. 180 was shut down completely for three months, and its charter was moved to Lodge No. 221 in Sulphur Springs.

The brothers banded together and made all the repairs they could on their own. Insurance covered part of the repairs, but not all of them.

“Our insurance was great to work with,” Cash said. “It didn’t cover ev-

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