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Our story
A lodge that helped build Somerset.
From classrooms after the Civil War to a new gathering place today, the history of Lodge No. 111 is inseparable from the community around it.
Buy a BrickA legacy of service
More than a meeting place.
Buildings change. The commitment to fellowship, character, charity, and community endures.
Published lodge history traces Somerset Lodge No. 111 to 1853. When South Central Kentucky emerged from the Civil War with limited educational opportunities, lodge members pooled their resources to establish Somerset Masonic College.
The building provided two floors of classrooms and a third-floor Masonic hall. On March 4, 1889, the lodge resolved to transfer the college building, its contents, and grounds to the newly formed Somerset Schools Board of Trustees for $3,500 while preserving lodge use of the third floor. The transfer was ratified on April 13.
In 1890, the lodge purchased the former National Hotel at North Main Street and Public Square. Its upper floor became the lodge room, while lower floors served other community uses. For more than a century, the building stood in the background of daily life downtown.
“For most of us, this is where we started our journey in Masonry.”Anthony McCollum · Lodge Master, July 2026
Time eventually made the historic building harder to maintain and harder for older members to navigate. With no elevator and three flights of stairs to the lodge room, members made the difficult decision to sell. The new owner, lodge leaders said, agreed to honor the building’s history.
The move is not an ending. It is a chance to create an accessible new lodge on a 5.25-acre site along East Kentucky 80—a larger, stair-free home with dedicated parking and room for fellowship, service, and community gatherings.
A legacy lived through service
Building men who answer to God—and show up for their neighbors.
Freemasonry asks each member to profess belief in a Supreme Being, examine his conduct, and keep becoming a better man. Somerset Lodge pairs that inward work with practical service to the community around it.
Somerset Lodge has produced two Grand Masters of Kentucky: Virgil P. Smith, who served in 1908–1909, and Richard F. “Dick” Short, who served in 2023–2024. The Grand Lodge’s official roster identifies both men with Lodge No. 111, carrying Somerset’s leadership into service across the Commonwealth.
The lodge selects a charity to support each year. In 2026, Lodge Master Anthony McCollum selected CW Team Mission, created in memory of 19-year-old Carlee Whitis after her death in 2021. Its representatives described a mission to give teens a safe place to belong and to teach Christian and biblical principles.
That is the thread running through the lodge’s history: form men of faith and character, strengthen brotherhood, then turn those commitments outward in service to fellow man.
Historical claims are supported by the Scottish Rite account and Commonwealth Journal reporting; the current membership figure comes from the Grand Lodge of Kentucky directory, and Past Grand Master service years come from the Grand Lodge’s official roster. Additional lodge history is preserved in Lodge No. 111 records.
Community service. Photograph by Joel Muniz via Unsplash; illustrative, not Somerset Lodge members.
What the lodge stands for
Faith that shapes character. Character that becomes service.
Faith and accountability
Members affirm belief in a Supreme Being and are called to examine how their choices measure against enduring moral duties.
Better men and stronger brothers
Masonic teaching centers on integrity, self-command, responsibility, fellowship, and steady growth in how a man treats others.
Service to Somerset
The lodge turns fellowship outward through charitable support, community partnerships, and practical help where local needs are greatest.
Choose how to help
