I received this inquiry via the New York History Net and was hoping someone
might be able to help this fellow.
My name is Alan Schneider. I am the
current Master (elected head official) of
Harmony Masonic Lodge #241 located
in Whitestone, Queens. Harmony Lodge is a
consolidated group of Masonic
Lodges that trace it's roots back to Oscar Coles
Lodge #241, that originally
met o Dec. 24th , 1851, in Manhattan, at the
intersections of Broome and
Crosby Streets. 3 years from now we will be
celebrating our 150th
anniversary, and I am interesting in finding the exact
address but have had
no luck from our own Grand Lodge. I have been searching
historical groups and
individuals in the hopes that someone might have
specific information on the
SOHO area of NYC in 1851, or be able to give me
some helpful hints as to what
direction to take to achieve this seemingly
endless
task
I replied:
I would approach this question by looking
at a Manhattan city directory from
1851 to see what businesses were at the
corner of Broome and Crosby in that
year and also look to see what detailed
maps (perhaps fire insurance maps)
on or about 1851 are available. Often
commercial buildings in the 19th
Century had a meeting hall on the top-most
floor which could be used by a
variety of purposes. When the SoHo-Cast Iron
Historic District, which was
created in 1973, there must have been an
historical survey of the buildings
extent at that time. These architectural
surveys often have extensive
bibliographies which might point you in the
right direction. The SoHo
Historic District Roughly bounded by W. Broadway,
Houston, Crosby, and Canal
Sts. The NY Public Library ought to be able to
help you with finding these.
I might also look to newspapers of the time to
see if there was any notice
of the new Lodge.
Can anyone else help this
fellow?
Edward
Knoblauch