In 1822, the Pioneers landed on the shores of West Africa, of what was to become, twenty-five years thereafter, a free, sovereign and in dependable state, to be known as, THE REPLUBLIC OF LIBERIA. In the group were a few who were Craftsmen, hailing from Colored Lodges in the United States of America, working under the Prince Hall Grand Lodge Constitution of Boston, Massachusetts, U. S. A.

The Dispensation establishing the first Negro Masonic Lodge in the United States was issued on the 3rd of July 1785 to Prince Hall, Boston Smith, Thomas Sanderson, and several other negro brethren then residing in Boston, New England. The Dispensation was issued under the command and authority of His Royal Highness Henry Frederick, Duke of Cumberland, Grand Master of the most Ancient and Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons in England, dated the 28th of September, A. L. 5784.

The following quotation about Prince Hall can be found in a pamphlet issued by authority of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of A.F. & AM., & Illinois, U. S. A.

Prince Hall, a Mason and a preacher in the 18th century; we behold him preaching to crowded audiences composed to the most part of slaves and their owners. He was born September 12, 1728, at Bridgetown, Barbados, British West Indies. His father, Thomas Prince Hall, was an Englishman, his mother a free woman of French decent. In February, 1765, he walked his way on a vessel bound for America, and arrived in Boston in March 1765. When he stepped on the shores of New England, he was 17 years old; at the age of twenty-five he had saved a small sum from his earnings which he invested in real estate. He was widely known as a genuine Christian and a faithful friend. In 1775, in the quarters General Gage on Capps Hills, he was brought to Masonic Light in a travel British Lodge, No. 58, A.F. & A.M. of the Grand Lodge of England. Thus were Prince Hall and fourteen other freed colored citizens of Boston initiated on March 6, 1775.

On the 3rd day of July 1785, Prince Hall dedicated to God and to the memory of the Holy Saints John of Jerusalem, the first Lodge of Colored Masons in North America. He entered the Revolutionary Army in February 1776, and joined Captain Benjamin Bellingham’s Company. After the war he married Miss Phoebe Baker. On the morning of December 7, 1807, after an illness of four weeks, Prince Hall died surrounded by his Brothers and friends.”

The Pioneer Fathers being engrossed with the grave and serious problems confronting them attending their permanent settlement and establishment here, the few Masons among them deferred any formal setting up of Craft Masonry among their co-settlers.

After the lapse of a period extending over forty years, during which time all their energies had been solely directed towards expanding their Settlement to a Colony and from a colony to a commonwealth, and from a commonwealth to a Free, Sovereign and independent State, the surviving Masons felt the time had arrived for the formal organization of Craft Masonry in Liberia whereby the Golden Tenets and Principles of our Noble Order could be more effectively promulgated and practiced but Liberians.

The necessary Dispensation, based on a petition was issued by the newly elected Deputy Grand Master, Thomas Amos, to Bros. Ashbury F. Johns. W.M. James C. Minors. W. John H. Chivers, J. W., and other Masons, empowering them to open or set up Oriental Lodge No. 1, in the City of Monrovia, and to Enter, Pass and Raise Freemasons according to the Ancient Customs and Usages of the Craft.”

Similar Dispensations were also granted by Deputy Grand Master Amos for the erection of two other Lodges, now known as Saint Paul’s Lodge No. 2, and Saint Johns Lodge No. 3, located in the Settlement of Clay-Ashland and in the City of Monrovia, respectively.

In the early part of the year 1867, Thomas Amos, Joseph Jenkins Roberts, Beverly P. Yates, Charles B. Dunbar, Sir… F. John N. Lewis, John H. Chivers. James C. Minor, John Seys, James M. Priest, Samuel C. Glasgow, William S. Anderson and Gabriel Moore, all of blessed memory, having the interest of the Craft at heart, assembled in solemn Convention, in the City of Monrovia, and after interchanging views for two weeks, decided to and did delegate all Masonic Power in this Jurisdiction to the Rev Brother Thomas Amos, as Deputy Grand Master of Masons for the purpose of establishing a Grand Lodge. This object having been met, the Convention was closed.

There being now the constitutional nucleus for the formation of a Grand Lodge, the three dispensed Lodges assembled in Convention in the City of Monrovia, drew up a Constitution and By-Laws.

On September 22, 1867, The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Liberia was constituted and consecrated by the following three (3) subordinate Lodges – Oriented Lodge # 1, Monrovia; St. Paul’s Lodge #2, Clay Ashland and St. Johns Lodge #3, Monrovia. Thomas Amos was the first Grand Master; Ashbury F. Johns, Deputy Grand Master, Beverly A. Yates, Senior Grand Warden, Hilary R.W. Johnson, Junior Grand Warden, Gabriel Moore, Grand Treasure, and John N. Lewis, Grand Secretary. Other appointed Grand Officers were named. The Grand Lodge announced in a public manner its declaration to the Masonic World in the following words:

We be Masons, true and loyal, having the interest and prosperity of the Fraternity at heart and being desirous of diffusing its genuine principles broadcast have constituted and set up a Grand Lodge Free and Accepted Masons in and for the Republic of Liberia and ask the sympathy and recognition of the Craft through the Globe.

1. Oriental Lodge No. 1, Monrovia, Montserrado County

2. St Paul’s Lodge No. 2, Clay- Ashland, Montserrado County

3. St. Johns Lodge No. 3, Monrovia, Montserrado County

4. Excelsior Lodge No. 4, Greenville, Sinoe- County*

5. Rising Sun Lodge No. 5, Edina, Grand Bassa County

6. Morning Star Lodge No. 6, Harper, Maryland County

7. Widow’s Son Lodge No. 7, Robertsport, Grand Cape Mount County

8. Evening Star Lodge No. 9, Upper Buchanan, Gr. Bassa County

9. Amos Lodge No. 10, St. John River City, Grand Bassa County

10. Hiram Lodge No. 11, Lower Buchanan , Gr Bassa County

11. Eureka Lodge No. 12, Gbarnga. Bong County

12. Mt. Moriah Lodge No. 13, Kakata, Margibi County

13. Cedar Lodge No. 14, Monrovia, Montserrado County

14. Alexander Tubman Lodge No. 15, Cestos City, Rivercess County*

15. Harmony Lodge No. 16, Yekepa, Nimba County*

16. Blazing Star Lodge No. 17, Schiefflin, Margibi County

17. Corinthians Lodge No. 18, Tubmanburg, Bomi County

18. William V.S. Tubman Lodge No. 19, Voinjama, Lofa County*

19. King Solomon Lodge No. 20, Harbel, Margibi County