By Paul Nyberg
Town Crier Publisher
Silicon Valley high-techs do not have a corner in starting up in someone’s garage. The Los Altos Masons started the same way in 1951.
The Masonic Temple at 146 Main St. was the setting for a serious but laughter-sprinkled 50th birthday ceremony March 17.
Grand Master William Malstrom, as master of ceremonies, introduced several short speeches including a flashback in history by Sterling Bailey, 92, one of two surviving charter members of the group.
Bailey not only explained that the first meetings were also held in a garage; but he displayed the first “podium” - an orange crate - and “gavel” - a ball pein hammer, to prove it.
The newly charted organization started with 33 members; today the lodge has 186 members and holds meetings every Monday evening.
The Los Altos Lodge is one of more than 400 active lodges in California.
The current Lodge building had been the home of the First Baptist Church.
When the church relocated to its current home on Magdelena in 1968, the Lodge purchased the building.
According to Los Altan Coye Vincent, who had been grand master in 1969, the price was $192,000 for the 15,000-square-foot structure.
The original sanctuary was retained for lodge meetings and the rest of the building was remodeled for office space, one retail store and a dining room in the basement.
According to a Mason spokesman, Freemasonry is a fraternity or brotherhood - not a religious society - based on the belief that each person has a responsibility to help make the world a better place.
The history of the Masonic order goes back to the 18th century when stonemasons formed local organizations called lodges to care for sick and injured members and their families. The first Grand Lodge was established in London in 1717.
In 1733 the first American lodge was launched in Boston. George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and John Hancock were among the first Masons in the United States.
It was not until 1850 that the migration to mining towns led to the first Grand Lodge in California.
