By: Edmund Rinner, Copernicus Lodge 545.
In my research on German Pilgrim Lodge’s history, I discovered some unusual, rather rare events, that took place in the first 25 years of the Lodge’s existence. Some of the early members’ attitudes were more of a hindrance than a help for this young Lodge.
On March 27th 1850, a group of only seven Master Masons came together in Warren Hall, on Oliver Street in downtown New York; their purpose was, to form another German speaking Masonic Lodge under the jurisdiction of St. John’s Grand Lodge. At that time, New York State had 3 Grand Lodges. The St. John’s Grand Lodge granted a Charter to German Pilgrim Lodge with the number 20. In September of the same year, the Lodge decided to make a change from St. John’s Grand Lodge to the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of the State of New York. They received a new Charter with the number 179 on October 7th 1850. Under this new Charter, all officers had to be reinstalled again. Meeting locations were changed several times until the Lodge moved to the Odd Fellow Hall on Grand and Centre Streets, where they remained for the next 25 years. Like many organizations, German Pilgrim Lodge had it’s ups and downs too. New members were raised, or demitted from other Lodges, rebellious meetings, critics on Lodge administrations, causing members to demit to other Lodges, or became involved in forming new ones.
In 1866, Dr. Julius Burian became Master and he remained in the East for the next four years. From the very beginning already, Dr. Burian exhibited outstanding leadership abilities to accomplish a turnaround in the Lodge administration; meeting attendance increased, the general attitude of the membership created unity again, causing great progress in the Lodge.
The M 
W Stephen H. Johnson
became Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the State of New York in 1867. For some unknown reason, the newly elected
Grand Master did not look favorably at the foreign speaking Masonic Lodges, which
at that time were mostly the ones working in the German language. Amongst the leaders of the few German Lodges,
Dr. Burian seemed to be the only one, who challenged the new Grand Master’s
attitude. Dr. Burian was born, raised
and educated in Vienna, Austria, he was as fluent in the English language as he
was in German. Their controversy reached
a point, where the Grand Master withdrew the Charter from German Pilgrim Lodge
with a statement; that this should be a lesson to other foreign speaking
Lodges. In the next Grand Lodge
communication in 1868, an energetic protest was made against the Grand Master,
on his actions, his violations, his outspokenness and he was voted out of
office, after serving only one year instead of the customary two years. The newly elected Grand Master, the M W James Gibson rescinded
his predecessors decision returned the Charter and restored the Grand Lodge
jurisdiction again to German Pilgrim Lodge.
In
our district, practically every Lodge takes pride in some achievements by
members that have shown unusual dedication, tireless efforts, personal and
financial sacrifices in the Masonic Fraternity, to promote and accomplish deeds
for the benefit of humanity. German
Pilgrim Lodge has produced its share in that category. Besides Dr. Julius Burian, who challenged the
Grand Master, the M W Stephen H. Johnson, Brother Albert Janicke, who
served as Master in 1873 to 75, was instrumental in starting the movement to
build the Temple at 15th Street, he also convinced the R W Brother Hohenthal,
D.D.G.M. at that time, to purchase property for a sanctuary for old and poor
Brothers and Sisters. This was
accomplished when an 18 acre tract of land was bought at Tappan. Another Past Master, W John von Plonski came up
with the idea to start a hospital fund in the Past Masters Association, which
became a reality and has been a help to many.
When
the 25th anniversary was celebrated in 1875, the Lodge had 140
members, the W Albert Janicke was Master of the Lodge. In 1900, the 50th anniversary was
celebrated with W Frank Zitz, a medical doctor as Master. About a year or so later, the Lodge moved to
the Bronx. This change was successful
for a while, especially in increasing the membership. The 75th anniversary took place on
March 28th 1925 at the 15th Street Temple. The W Otto Kappler was Master
of the Lodge. No date could be obtained
when German Pilgrim Lodge moved to the 15th Street Temple. The W Siegfried Mamerow served
as Master on the 100th anniversary, which was celebrated on March 18th
1950 at the Hotel Roosevelt in New York.
The Empire State Mason Magazine, was printed for several years at
Mamerow’s printing plant. W Brother Paul Huhn stated
the movement to organize the German Pilgrim Sister Circle. There are no dates available when the
Fellowcraft Club began to function.
The Lodge became very active after the second World War in NIMA (Ninth Manhattan District for Relief of Germans in Europe) under the auspices of the Grand Lodge. The purpose of this committee was, to raise funds for CARE packages for the needy in Europe. All Lodges in the Ninth participated in this humane endeavor. The following Brothers received Grand Lodge appointments: Dr. Frank Zitz and Siegfried Mamerow, served as D.D.G.M. Walter Schneider, Grand Lodge Staff Officer, Otto Kappler, John von Plonski, Julius Kling and Harry Sprenger became Grand Lodge Representatives.
German Pilgrim Lodge also went through the same stages like other Lodges, decline in membership, neighborhood deteriations, industrial relocations etc. creating a situation that made it impossible to field a slate of officers. On December 10th 1971, the Lodge consolidated with Goethe Lodge 629 and became Goethe Pilgrim Lodge 629.
PAST MASTERS – GERMAN PILGRIM LODGE 179
| G. Gesener | 1850 | William Schoenfeld | 1914-15-16-17 | |
| A. Doderer | 1851 | Lucas Armbruster | 1918 | |
| G. Guenther | 1852 | Paul Huhn | 1919-20-21 | |
| F. Ahrens | 1853-54 | John H. von Plonski | 1922-23 | |
| A. Koevel | 1855 | Julius Hettle | 1924 | |
| L. Gundle | 1856-57 | Otto Kappler | 1925-26 | |
| T. Schmalholz | 1858-59 | Adam Humburg | 1927-28 | |
| A. Frentel | 1860 | Louis Birseck | 1929 | |
| A. Jordan | 1861-62 | Frank M. Schonbach | 1930 | |
| F.H. Loewe | 1863 | George Stuerzel | 1931-32 | |
| A. Jordan | 1864 | William Stremme | 1933-34 | |
| F.H. Loewe | 1865 | Henry Koester | 1935-36 | |
| Dr. J.J. Burian | 1866-67-68-69 | Karl Mehl | 1937-38 | |
| E. Reimann | 1870 | Ernest Krup | 1939-40 | |
| F. Greis | 1871-72 | Carl Ott | 1941-42 | |
| Albert Janicke | 1873-74-75 | Herbert Schafer | 1943-44 | |
| Albert Hennings | 1876-77 | William Giebe | 1945 | |
| F. Gminder | 1878-79 | George Jacobs | 1946-47 | |
| F. Torber | 1880-81 | Oscar Nink | 1948 | |
| C. Boss | 1882-83 | Siegfried Mamerow | 1949-50 | |
| William Ullrich | 1884 | Julius Kling | 1951 | |
| C. Forschner | 1885-86-87 | Harry Sprenger | 1952 | |
| H. Torber | 1888-89-90 | Walter Schneider | 1953-54-55 | |
| Theodor Henninger | 1891-92 | Erich Hackbarth | 1956 | |
| H. Betz | 1893-94-95-96 | Julius Kling | 1957 | |
| Frank H. Zitz | 1897-98 | John Schoenherr | 1958-59 | |
| Bernhard H. Kahn | 1899 | Erich Kindler | 1960 | |
| Frank H. Zitz | 1900-01 | Peter Clausen | 1961 | |
| Valtin Hammel | 3/4/1902 | John Spangler | 1962 | |
| Emil Stoll | 6/7/1905 | Henry Betz | 1963-64-65-66 | |
| William Schoenfeld | 1908-09 | Friedrich Stetter | 1967-68 | |
| Lucas Armbruster | 1910-11-12-13 | Fred Reimann | 1969-70-71 |