The history of Unity Lodge #367 is long and complex.  It is a story that started in 1835, some thirteen years before Wisconsin became a state.

There are several narratives compiled over the years that tell the story from several perspectives.  Each has merit, and each has details that the others do not.  To know the whole story requires reading each account.

Read the story of early Kenosha and how the original lodges were formed, the history of Pike Lodge #355, the history of Southport Lodge #343 and finally, Unity Lodge #367.

KENOSHA LODGES

The following narrative is taken from Forward Freemasonry, A History of Freemasonry in Wisconsin (Vol. 1), published by Grand Lodge, F & AM of Wisconsin, Allan E. Iding, PGM, Editor in 1996.

In June 1835, John Bullen, Jr. of Hanibal, New York, his brother and two companions, all members of the Western Immigration Company, arrived at a place they called Pike Creek, today known as Kenosha, in the southeast corner of Wisconsin. By the end of the year, there were 32 inhabitants. The next year, Orlando Foster, also from New York, arrived on foot from Chicago. In 1837, the name of the village changed from Pike Creek to Southport. The population had grown to 144, including John Bullen, Sr.

In January 1845, John Bullen, Sr. and 13 other Masons asked the Grand Lodge of Wisconsin for a dispensation to form a lodge at Southport. Milwaukee Lodge No. 3 recommended that the petition be granted, and the Grand Lodge ordered the Grand Secretary to issue the dispensation.

Bullen was the Master, and Waters Towslee and Thomas Nichols were the Wardens. Bullen was General of Militia, appointed by Governor Henry Dodge. When he wasn't acting as a General, he operated Bullen's Tavern in the town of Silver Lake and, later, the National Hotel in Southport. Towslee was the first Postmaster of the Village of Southport.

At its January 1846 meeting, the Grand Lodge issued a charter to Southport Lodge No. 7, naming George Willis as the charter Master, with Edgar Hugin and Bostwick O'Conner as the Wardens. Willis, a blacksmith by trade, was better known as the proprietor of the Willis Tavern, located on the southwest corner of Prairie Avenue and Milwaukee Road, on the old stage coach line between Milwaukee and Chicago.

The lodge by-laws provided that regular monthly meetings be held on Mondays preceding the full moon beginning at 2 p.m. The jurisdiction of Southport Lodge included Racine until October 1847, when Racine Masons received a dispensation to form a new lodge there. All went well at Southport for a time. Then, in 1852, dissension arose among its members and the Lodge voted that "a new lodge be started here."

In June 1853, the Grand Lodge learned that Southport had not submitted required reports for two years. Worse yet, Daniel Howell, Grand Lecturer of the Eastern District of Wisconsin, reported that on a visit to Kenosha (the city's name having changed in 1850), he could not find the lodge. That was enough for the Grand Lodge. The voting members unanimously declared the charter forfeited.

Meanwhile, a new lodge was being formed in Kenosha. In January 1853, the Grand Master issued a dispensation to Kenosha Lodge, with Orlando Foster as Master and A. G. Chatfield and Elisha Kinney as Wardens. The Grand Lodge issued a charter to Kenosha Lodge No. 47 in June 1854, with Foster as Master, and Theodore Newell and Kinney as Wardens.

Foster was a general mechanic, shoemaker and inventor. He manufactured the first bed springs made in Kenosha. He also made shoes from leather tanned in his tannery. Frank Lyman's History of Kenosha County reports that at the first Independence Day celebration in Southport on July 4, 1837, Orlando Foster led the band.

Foster had received his Masonic degrees in Southport Lodge No. 7. He was the Senior Warden when the lodge's charter was arrested in 1853. He was the Master of Kenosha Lodge No. 47 in 1853, 1854, 1855 and 1860. Foster also served as Senior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of Wisconsin in 1854 and 1855. He was a District Deputy Grand Master in 1856.

For about a year, beginning in June 1859, another lodge in Kenosha, known as Park City Lodge, operated under dispensation. It never received a charter from the Grand Lodge, however, and in August 1860, Park City Lodge returned the dispensation. Most of the Park City Lodge members joined Kenosha Lodge No. 47.

The first meeting place of Kenosha Lodge is believed to have been at a building, formerly known as 213-215 Main Street. For some 30 years, beginning in 1860, the lodge met at the Gottfredsen Hall at 268 Main Street (now known as 5723 6th Avenue). In 1890, it moved back to the old Masonic hall at 213-215 Main Street.

The lodge helped form the Masonic Temple Association in 1903. The association purchased and renovated the old N. R. Allen homestead in 1905, selling it to the Odd Fellows in 1919 when it had become too small for Kenosha Lodge. The lodge moved to the Simmons Memorial Church, which it had occupied for about five years before moving to its present Masonic building, constructed in 1925.

In April 1927, Grand Master Dwight Mooney issued a dispensation to form another lodge in Kenosha. The name chosen was "Southport Lodge," reflecting the city's early name and the name of the first lodge there. Lester Hagaman was the first Master, and Allan Hitch and Charles Blake were the Wardens. The Grand Lodge issued a charter to Southport Lodge No. 343 in June 1928.

In the spring of 1958, Dr. Gilbert Schwartz, Dr. Harry Schwartz and Dr. Harold Woods discussed the formation of another lodge in Kenosha. The Schwartz brothers were physicians and Woods was a dentist. They believed that the initial members of the new lodge should primarily be Masons living in the area, but who were not members of either Kenosha Lodge or Southport Lodge. A petition, signed by 45 masons from 40 lodges in 12 jurisdictions, was presented to Grand Master Alf Anderson.

Grand Lecturer Ernest Hiegel certified that the proposed officers were satisfactorily proficient in the Wisconsin ritual. Grand Master Anderson granted the dispensation to Pike Lodge in June 1958. The lodge, named for the first settlement along the Pike River, first met at St. Andrew's Church and later at the Danish Brotherhood Hall.

Dr. Woods was the first Master, and Barrett Bates and John Shannon, Sr., were the Wardens. The lodge acquired its furniture from Brandon Lodge No. 144 which had just consolidated with Waupun Lodge No. 48. The Grand Lodge issued a charter to Pike Lodge No. 355 in June 1959. In late 1963, Pike Lodge offered to buy the Kenosha Bible Church building. The purchase was completed and the building was remodeled by the Masons and their friends. The lodge held its first meeting there in May 1964.

In 1977, Columbus Thomas, J.T. Lambert and Frank Raymond promoted the concept of a lodge in Kenosha which would meet during the daytime. They obtained the signatures of 52 Masons on a petition for a dispensation to form a new lodge and submitted it to Grand Master Carl Garny, who granted the dispensation in April 1977. Lambert was the first Master and Raymond and Thomas were the Wardens. In June 1978, the Grand Lodge issued a charter to Sunrise Lodge No. 359. Southport Lodge offered the use of its building at 2011 52nd Street and Sunrise Lodge met there.

In 1988, Pike Lodge decided to sell its building. In May 1989, it began meeting at the Masonic hall of Southport Lodge. A few years later, Pike Lodge and Southport Lodge agreed to construct a new Masonic building, which was completed in 1992 on ten acres of land on the west side of Kenosha.