History

At the annual communication of the Grand Lodge of Virginia on December 15, 1802, Brother John H. Peyton, a delegate of Dumfries Lodge No. 50, presented a petition signed by several respected Brethren with the recommendation and certificate from Dumfries Lodge No. 50 for a charter to constitute a Lodge in the Town of Haymarket in the County of Prince William. A Lodge under dispensation had been in operation since 1799. The Grand Lodge of Virginia issued a charter in the name of Hay Market Lodge No. 67, appointing the following officers:

In 1803, Hay Market Lodge No. 67 held its meetings on the second Friday of each month in the new courthouse, this being the most convenient place and most of its members were in some way connected with the court.

In 1805, the Lodge met on the second Saturday of each month in the Jury Room, which was located in the gallery of the courthouse. The Lodge had representatives at the Grand Lodge in 1804, 1805, 1807, 1810, 1812, and 1820.

In 1808, the Virginia Legislature delivered a low blow to the Town of Haymarket and to Hay Market Lodge No. 67. It abolished the District Court system and set up Circuit Courts in each respective county seat. Naturally there was some delay in this transition, and Prince William County did not move her court from Haymarket to Dumfries until 1809. The act of the Assembly ordering the sale of the old buildings was not given until 1812. The closing of the court caused many of the Masons that were connected with the court to move away so that membership fell drastically.

Sometime between 1808 and 1812, the Lodge meeting place was moved from the courthouse to the community room in the Haymarket Inn until December 1918. This inn was located on the northeast corner of the intersection, which is now known as Washington and Jefferson Streets. This inn was near the finish line of the Haymarket Race Track and furnished all of the luxuries of the times; horse stables, ice house, wine cellar, bar and good well water. Disaster struck the Lodge in December 1818 when Haymarket Inn was destroyed by fire.

Nothing more can be found about the Lodge until Grand Lodge on December 12, 1820, when upon motion of the representative of Hay Market Lodge No. 67, William H. Fitzwhylsonn, the name of Hay Market Lodge No. 67 was changed to Centreville Lodge No. 67 with location in Fairfax County. Since Brother Fitzwhylsonn was, at that time the Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Virginia; one is lead to believe that the petition was sent through the mail, asking the Grand Secretary to represent the Lodge in this matter. This is the end of the history of Hay Market Lodge No. 67 in the Town of Haymarket.

Centreville Lodge No. 67 became entirely extinct in 1847 and from that date to 1863, the records are vague and incomplete. This happened during the dark period of Masonry or the twenty years following the Morgan Affair, when many Lodges could not stand the onslaught of public opinion and disappeared. The Grand Lodge issued the number 67 to Mountain City Lodge No. 67 at Lexington, Virginia on December 15, 1857, which is still an active Lodge.

The second Masonic Lodge in the Town Haymarket, one word, was started in 1909, upon petition to the Grand Lodge of Virginia for a dispensation to start a Lodge. Most Worshipful Joseph W. Eggleston, Grand Master of Masons in Virginia, granted the dispensation on October 11, 1909, naming the following officers:

The petition requested that the name of the Lodge be Eggleston in honor of the Grand Master, but he decided to name the Lodge Drinkard in honor of the memory of Past Grand Master William F. Drinkard, Grand Master of Masons in Virginia in 1887. The Lodge met for almost five years in a room, 20 by 22 feet, on the second floor of the Butler and Rector wheelwright shop for a rent of $3.00 per month. There are no photographs available of this old building but there is an artists sketch based upon eyewitness descriptions hanging behind the Senior Wardens chair in the Lodge room. The Lodge was quite active one evening when they balloted on five candidates, initiated the same, and heard the petitions for seven initiations and one for affiliation.

On February 16, 1911, the Grand Lodge of Virginia issued a charter to Drinkard Lodge No. 313 and assigned it to Masonic District No. 1. Two months later on April 17, 1911, the Lodge was constituted and the officers installed by a Provisional Lodge.

On September 26, 1912, Worshipful Brother Tyler appointed himself and Brother J. E. Beale as a committee to look into the chance of securing a new Lodge home. On June 23, 1914, a resolution was offered and unanimously carried that Worshipful W. M. Jordan, J. E. Beale, George G. Tyler, M. G. White, and W. H. Shirley, any three of whom constituted a quorum with the authority to secure estimates, formulate plans, and if in their judgment they deem it wise, to erect and equip a suitable Masonic hall with the understanding that no more than $1,200.00 be borrowed to complete the work. On January 25, 1915, the Lodge held its first meeting in their new hall.

Drinkard Lodge remained a part of Masonic District No. 1 until the Grand Lodge formed a new Masonic District No. 59 in February 1925. In February 1934, the Grand Lodge changed the district number from 59 to 58 and in February 1938, Henry Lodge No. 57 in Fairfax was transferred from the 54th Masonic District to the 58th Masonic District.

On July 10, 1961, after honoring Most Worshipful Brother Drinkard for fifty-one years and at times suffering some embarrassment with the name Drinkard, the Lodge passed a resolution to recommend to the Grand Lodge that its name be changed to the name of the first Lodge in Haymarket, i.e., Hay Market (two words). Subsequently at the Grand Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge of Virginia in 1962, the proposed resolution was adopted.