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Tonopah
Lodge #28
Tonopah, NV
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(Of the above two pictures, guess which was taken during the winter, and which during the summer - without looking at the ice on the sidewalk and lack of leaves on the trees!)
The Tonopah Mining District, which lies approximately half-way between Las Vegas and Reno, is perhaps the only mining district in Nevada which has remained productive over most of its career - with ups and downs, of course, as the price of precious metals goes up and down. Precious metal ores were first discovered here in May of 1900 by Jim Butler, and the mines of the region have since produced over a third of a billion dollars worth of silver and gold.
As soon as word of Butler's discoveries was out, it seemed every prospector and miner in the West headed for Tonopah - at one time, there were over 7,000 residents in the new camp.
The seeds of Freemasonry were sown in Tonopah in the spring of 1901, but took some time to germinate and flourish. In February of 1902, a dispensation was issued to the brethren of the area to form a new Lodge, which was chartered in July of that year.
The Lodge organized the "Tonopah Masonic Corporation" in 1911, with the purpose of purchasing a suitable building for the use of the Lodge. The "Golden Building", near the heart of the business district, was purchased and refurbished for the sum of $20,000, and the building serves the Lodge to this day.
WB Dick Sauer, Treasurer of Tonopah Lodge, recently refurbished the sign on the front of the building - and brought Tonopah into the "modern era" by replacing all the neon with Light-Emitting Diodes! Here he is, rehanging the sign ... Thanks, Dick!
