November 21, 1838

Representatives from the four Masonic lodges in Arkansas met in Little Rock (Pulaski County) to form the Grand Lodge of Arkansas. By 1838, there were about 100 Masons in Arkansas’s four lodges. In the government of the Freemasons, a lodge must have a charter or authority from a recognized Grand Lodge to work, meet, and initiate new people into the fraternity. In Masonic law, four regularly chartered lodges may unite and establish a Grand Lodge in an area where no other Grand Lodge holds exclusive jurisdiction.