A Brief History of Penewobikong Lodge No. 487

Penewobikong Lodge No. 487 has now been a fix­ture in Blind River for 98 years. Prior to 1908, the masons of Blind River fell under the juris­dic­tion of Dyment Lodge No. 442 on Thessalon. In those days, this meant long and ardu­ous jour­neys, some­times by boat, to par­tic­i­pate in lodge functions.

The Blind River con­tin­gent, want­ing a lodge of their own, finally per­suaded Dyment Lodge to rec­om­mend to Grand Lodge that a dis­pen­sa­tion for a lodge in the town be granted. Thus on March 9, 1908, Penewobikong (the abo­rig­i­nal word for Blind River) Lodge No. 487 was insti­tuted, with our char­ter being granted on July 22, 1909.

But it wasn’t until 1928 that our lodge was able to have its own build­ing on the site where it now stands. Accordingly, on October 22, 1928 our new lodge build­ing at 17 Hanes Avenue was duly ded­i­cated. It has been our home now for 78 years.

Since the heady rush of those early years, the for­tunes of our lodge have closely mir­rored the rise and fall of Blind River’s pros­per­ity. As the demand for lum­ber in the early years has fluc­tu­ated, as lum­ber mills have come and gone and changed own­er­ship, so too has Penewobikong Lodge trav­eled through peri­ods of despair and celebration.

Now, in the early days of the 21^st cen­tury, our lodge and its ded­i­cated mem­ber­ship still work hard at the ideals that are the frame­work of our fra­ter­nity. We are an inte­gral part of the town and the char­i­ties and orga­ni­za­tions we sup­port rec­og­nize the value of our brotherhood.

In 2008 we will cel­e­brate our cen­ten­nial. This will mark not only 100 years of masonry in Blind River but also the begin­ning of a new cen­tury of Masonic growth and development.