In the year 1855, Council Bluffs, City, Iowa, was just a frontier settlement. There were among its residents a number of men who were Masons, members of lodges in their home towns, who were desirous of reactivating their masonry in their new home. These men were the nucleus of the group that met with the intention of organizing a Masonic Lodge in Council Bluffs City.
The May 17, 1855 minutes of the Evening Star Lodge at Winterset, Iowa, show that a group of ten Council Bluffs masons appeared before that lodge on that date to apply for a recommendation to the Grand Master of Masons in Iowa for a dispensation to form a Masonic Lodge in Council Bluffs, City, Iowa.
These ten men were headed by Brother Leavitt Bowen, an attorney, who was to become the first Worshipful Master of the new Bluff City Lodge No. 71. No information as to his previous Masonic affiliations is known. He did serve as Senior Warden of Nebraska Lodge No. 1 during the time he was Worshipful Master of Bluff City Lodge. At the formation of the Nebraska Grand Lodge in September of 1857, he became the first Deputy Grand Master of that body, although he did not demit from Bluff City Lodge until April of 1859.
Brother McMahon, a physician, was the first Bluff City Senior Warden. He was born in Harden County, Kentucky and demitted from Morrison Lodge No. 76 of Elizabethtown, Kentucky where he has been raised on December 22, 1841.
Brother Sam Riddle, a lawyer, was the first Junior Warden. He demitted from the same lodge as Brother McMahon. Brother Riddle was raised on November 23, 1843.
Brother W. C. James, also a lawyer, served as the first Tyler.
Brother William Clancy, Brother Samuel Knepper, Brother Rufus Beall, and Brother J. C. Fargo, amoung ten additional petitionors are all considered to be charter members.
The first meeting of Bluff City Lodge n. 71, A. F. & A. M., under dispensation, was held Saturday, July 21, 1855, in the Odd Fellows’ hall. By-Laws were adopted and committees were appointed. The constitution of the Grand Lodge of Iowa was adopted. Following this the lodge opened in the several degrees in due and ancient form. Two petitions for the mysteries were received at this first meeting. They were from John Cook born in England, by occupation a physician and John H. Sherman, a lawyer, residing in Omaha City, Territory of Nebraska. A committee was instructed to purchase fifty white aprons. The same committee was also instructed to make a contract for the use of the Odd Fellows’ hall for a meeting place. Lodge was then adjourned for two weeks.
Bluff City Lodge No. 71, A.F. & A.M. is currently one of three Masonic Lodges currently housed in the Council Bluffs Masonic Temple located at 130 S. 6th St. Council Buffs, IA.