The Village of Sheboygan was incorporated in February 1846. It comprised roughly 300 people clustered around the mouth of the Sheboygan River on Lake Michigan. The community still bore some of the ill-effects of the inflation caused by land speculators who had sold lots some ten years earlier. To the west were farms and an occasional saw mill or grist mill. Also that February, upon the recommendation of Milwaukee Lodge No. 3, Grand Master Abram D. Smith issued a dispensation to a group of Sheboygan Masons to form a lodge.

William Trowbridge was the first Master, and Walter Kellogg and William Farnsworth were the Wardens. The Grand Lodge granted Sheboygan Lodge No. 11 its charter in May 1847. Most of the original members were settlers from New York state and the New England area. A few were from England.

Trowbridge, born in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1790, was a whitesmith and manufacturer of edged tools. He came to Sheboygan in 1837 where he operated a blacksmith shop. Shortly thereafter, he moved to Sheboygan Falls, settling on a farm west of the village. Although never formally ordained, he preached regularly in the Baptist church and officiated at more than 250 funerals. He was commonly referred to as “Deacon” Trowbridge.

William Farnsworth, born in Vermont in 1796 and who later served as Master, was the first white man to visit the present site of Sheboygan. He arrived in 1814, left and returned in 1818. For the next 14 years, he operated a fur trading post there. His marriage to Queen Marinette (Marie Antoinette Chevailer) of the Menominee Indians resulted in prosperous trade.

Farnsworth received his Masonic degrees in Menomanie Lodge at Fort Howard, Wisconsin. In 1835, he became half-owner of the entire original plat of the village. For a short time, he operated a saw mill at the present site of the Sheboygan County Court House. Farnsworth was one of the owners of two Great Lakes sailing vessels and was proprietor of the North Pier Company. He was a commissioner of the Sheboygan and Fond du Lac Railroad and the Sheboygan and Mississippi Railroad. He died on the ill-fated Lady Elgin which was rammed by the schooner Augusta and sank in Lake Michigan near Winnetka, Illinois.

The lodge met once a month on the Wednesday evening preceding the full moon. It suffered a brief eclipse in 1848 when it surrendered its charter. The property was placed in the care of St. John’s Lodge under dispensation. The Grand Lodge restored Sheboygan Lodge’s charter in December 1849.

The lodge minutes of February 7, 1854 show that a “Mrs.” William Lee was elected to receive the degrees. Rick Gustafson, who served several terms as Master and Secretary during the 1980s and 1990s, claims that the minutes do actually show “Mrs.” being recorded, but subsequent minutes clearly show “Mr.”

Born in Prussia, Jacob Vollrath served as Master at various times during the 1860s. He was one of the founders of the Vollrath Company, manufacturers of enameled kitchenware. The German influence was evident in Sheboygan and also in the lodge.

In 1860, the lodge members voted to use the German language on the third and fourth Tuesdays of each month. In 1868, some Sheboygan Masons attempted to form a German lodge. The petition was agreed to and submitted by Sheboygan Lodge No. 11, but Grand Master Harlow Pease rejected it, feeling that two lodges in Sheboygan would not benefit the fraternity.

Sheboygan Lodge occupied quarters in the upper floors of commercial buildings for many years. The first Masonic building in Sheboygan was a remodeled mansion on 7th Street and Niagara Avenue. In 1929, the lodge completed construction of a large, beautifully adorned Masonic temple, where it meets today, on the southwest corner of 4th Street and St. Clair Avenue.

As in most Masonic lodge, the membership roster has included throughout its history many local industrialists, businessmen, educators, professional men and prominent community leaders. William Seaman, whose father was a charter member, was a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals. Walter Kohler Sr., a well-known industrialist, served as Governor of Wisconsin from 1929 to 1931.

George Currie served as Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice. Justice Currie chaired the “Currie Committee” which issued reports in 1974 and 1975 on Prince Hall Masonry. Past Master Karl Braasch served as Grand Master in 1936.

Source:
Iding, A. E. (Ed.) (1996). Sheboygan Lodge No. 11., Forward Freemasonry (pp. 168-170). Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Wisconsin.