Grand Lodge of New York F&AM	TRINITY LODGE No. 12 LODGE HISTORY Trinity Lodge No. 12 is the oldest German Lodge in the United States. Like most American Lodges, it descended from a regimental lodge, which one found in most English army regiments in the 18^th century. It was these regimental lodges that carried Masonry throughout the United States and established the craft in this country. Our lodge sprang from Lodge No. 210, which had no name, merely a number. The members of No. 210 consisted primarily of British officials and Tory (pro-British) sympathizers. It received its Charter from the Ancient Atholl Grand Lodge of England in 1779. Lodge No. 210 was itself an offshoot of another old regimental lodge, No. 215, of the 2^nd Brandenburg-Anspach regiment, which was under the auspices of the Grand Lodge of Germany. In 1781, the Provincial Grand Lodge of New York was organized by nine lodges, Trinity Lodge was one of them. Of these original nine lodges, only Trinity Lodge is in existence today. Although there are three other lodges in New York that are older than Trinity, (St. Johns, Hiram and Holland), these three lodges were not accepted into Grand Lodge until 1782, - a year later. The first meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge took place in 1782 in Roubalets Hall in New York City. Members of No. 210 took a prominent part in this meeting. Four members of No. 210 were chosen as Grand Lodge officers. These were: Joshua Watson, Grand Treasurer Rev. John Beardley, Jr., Grand Warden George Clark, Grand Deacon Oliver Burdet, Grand Steward Subsequently, in 1789, Provincial Grand Lodge was re-designated as the Grand Lodge of the Sovereign State of New York. Under this new aegis, Lodge No. 210 was renamed as Temple No. 4. Temple Lodge existed for only a few months. After its dissolution, a charter was issued to some of its members for a new lodge, Jerusalem Lodge No. 4. A split in Jerusalem Lodge resulted in the creation of two lodges, Trinity No. 10 and Phoenix Lodge No. 11. Phoenix Lodge is no longer in existence, but its offshoot, Washington Lodge No. 21, is still functioning.
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