El Paso Lodge # 130 AF & AM

06/03/2026

Captain Charles Davis Sr. was born on September 18, 1847, in El Dorado, Arkansas. Lodge records describe him as one of the most distinguished attorneys in West Texas during his era. The son of a Mississippi jurist and one of thirteen children, Davis rose to prominence through a career devoted to public service, law, and civic leadership. 
 
His contributions to the development of El Paso were substantial. Over the course of his public life, he served as an alderman, Mayor of El Paso, Collector of Customs for Paso del Norte, and as a colonel on the staff of Governor Charles A. Culberson. In addition to his public responsibilities, he accumulated significant business and property interests, reflecting the confidence placed in him by the growing community he helped shape. 
 
Davis exemplified the influential role that Freemasons played in the civic and institutional development of early El Paso. Members of the fraternity were frequently found among the city’s legal, political, and commercial leadership, helping establish the foundations upon which the community would continue to grow. Through their service, these men contributed not only to the administration of government but also to the broader advancement of public life in the Southwest. 
 
Within Freemasonry, Davis was an active member of El Paso Lodge No. 130 A.F. & A.M. His leadership extended throughout Texas as Grand Commander of the Knights Templar of Texas, and he was also a devoted member of the Shrine. His life stands as a testament to a generation of civic-minded leaders whose influence helped guide El Paso through a formative period in its history. 
 
Photo Credit / Rights: El Paso Lodge No. 130 A.F. & A.M. Archives.  

06/03/2026

Pictured at the center of this historic photograph is Worshipful Master Tom C. Lea Jr of El Paso Lodge No. 130 A.F. & A.M., a prominent attorney, mayor, and civic leader whose career reflected the substantial influence that Masons exerted on the development of early El Paso. 
 
Displayed before Lea is a silver trowel presented to the lodge by Cannongate Kilwinning No. 2 of Scotland. Long believed lost, the artifact resurfaced after a Goodwill store in Albuquerque contacted the lodge. Examination later revealed that the handle was fashioned not from ivory, as originally believed, but from ancient mammoth material. 
 
During Lea’s administration, El Paso hosted the historic meeting between President-elect William Howard Taft and Mexican President Porfirio Díaz. The event, portions of which took place at the hotel of local Mason Ernst Kohlberg, required extraordinary security measures after the Texas Rangers and other authorities uncovered an assassination plot. Lodge records also indicate that Mayor Lea met on several occasions with General John J. “Black Jack” Pershing, a Mason whose distinguished military career would later make him one of the most celebrated officers in American history. During the turmoil of the Mexican Revolution, Lea reportedly received a death threat from Pancho Villa, underscoring the strategic importance of El Paso during this period. 
 
Originally from Missouri, Lea established a respected law practice in El Paso with fellow Mason Robert E. Thomason, who would later serve in the United States House of Representatives. The photograph was taken inside the El Paso Lodge No. 130 Temple, designed by Trost & Trost, whose principals were likewise members of the fraternity. 
 
This image serves as a reminder of the significant contributions Masons made to the political, legal, commercial, and civic institutions that helped shape modern El Paso. 
Photo Credits / Rights: El Paso Lodge No. 130 A.F. & A.M. Archives. 

06/01/2026

Charles Robert Morehead was born on February 28, 1836, in Richmond, Missouri. Educated in Missouri’s public schools and later at Masonic College in Lexington, he developed the foundation for a career that would span transportation, commerce, finance, education, and public service. Lodge records indicate that he was employed by Russell, Majors & Waddell, the prominent freighting company responsible for transporting military supplies across the American frontier. There he gained valuable experience in wagon transportation and western trade. During a period of increasing frontier unrest, he was reportedly sent to Washington, D.C., where discussions concerning Indian attacks highlighted the strategic importance of the Pony Express before President James Buchanan (mason) and members of Congress. 
 
Morehead later entered the mercantile and cattle industries in Leavenworth, Kansas, and married Lemire Morris of Kentucky. He served as Mayor of Leavenworth. His business interests eventually drew him to the Southwest, and in 1881 he settled permanently in El Paso, where he emerged as one of the city’s most influential civic and business leaders. 
 
Among his most significant achievements was helping organize the First National Bank of El Paso, where he served as president. Notably, the bank’s leadership was composed entirely of members of the fraternity. His investments in mining and other enterprises contributed to the economic growth of the border region. Morehead also served as chairman of the El Paso Board of Education and as Mayor of El Paso from 1903 to 1905. He supported the expansion of Fort Bliss, improvements to municipal water systems, and public health initiatives. His civic service further included becoming the first trustee of First Baptist Church. 
 
A member of El Paso Lodge No. 130 A.F. & A.M., a Knight Templar, and a 33° Scottish Rite Mason, Morehead exemplified the profound role Masons played in shaping the civic, educational, financial, and institutional foundations of early El Paso. 
 
Photo Credits / Rights: El Paso Lodge No. 130 A.F. & A.M. Archives. 

05/31/2026

Thomas Jeremiah Beall was born on May 12, 1836, in Georgia. During the 1850s, his family relocated to Marshall, Texas. He later attended Tulane College in New Orleans and Cumberland University in Tennessee, where he pursued the study of law. Cumberland would suffer extensive destruction during the Civil War. According to lodge records, Beall entered Confederate service as a member of the Marshall Guards under the command of Captain Khleber Miller Van Zandt. During the conflict, he was wounded in action, captured by Union forces, and subsequently exchanged. He later participated in the Wilderness Campaign, where he sustained additional wounds and narrowly escaped death.

Following the war, Beall joined fellow Masons Bennett H. Davis and Robert E. Kemp in the law firm of Davis, Beall & Kemp. The partnership emerged as one of the most distinguished legal practices in the region. Its professional legacy would later become associated with the institution now known as Kemp Smith LLP, among the oldest continuously operating law firms in El Paso. Beall subsequently relocated to El Paso, where he served as counsel for the Santa Fe Railroad during a period of profound economic transformation and territorial expansion across the Southwest.

Beall’s influence extended beyond the legal profession. A member of El Paso Lodge No. 130 A.F. & A.M., he occupied a prominent place within Texas Freemasonry. From 1893 to 1894, he served as Grand Commander of the Knights Templar of Texas. He also assisted in the organization of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks in El Paso, contributing to the civic and fraternal institutions that helped shape the city’s development during a formative era.

Photo Credits / Rights: El Paso Lodge No. 130 A.F. & A.M. Archives.

05/30/2026

Peter Edward Kern was born on October 13, 1860, in New Riegel, Ohio. Remembered today through the prestigious Kern Place neighborhood that bears his name, he emerged as one of the most recognizable businessmen and civic figures in the history of El Paso. His early interest in the jewelry trade began in Ohio and continued through a series of positions that carried him across the American West. Employment with the Rio Grande Railroad eventually brought him to the Southwest, first to Santa Fe and later to El Paso, where opportunity and enterprise transformed his fortunes.  
  
After settling in the city, Kern established what contemporary accounts described as one of the largest jewelry establishments in the region. He also constructed El Paso’s first Queen Anne-style residence, a landmark reflecting the city’s growing prosperity during the late nineteenth century. He became deeply involved in the physical expansion of El Paso. He aquired land from the Ascarate family and McKelligon area.  
  
Kern’s influence extended beyond commerce. He supported the development of the Elephant Butte Dam project and encouraged fellow members of the fraternity to back an undertaking that would ultimately prove vital to the economic future of the borderlands. An avid traveler, he ventured as far as Alaska during the Klondike era in pursuit of opportunity. At the height of his success, reports credited his business with millions of dollars in jewelry sales. Yet changing circumstances eventually erased much of the wealth he had accumulated.  
  
In later years, Kern resided at the Masonic Home for the Aged in Arlington, Texas, where he became affectionately known as “Klondike Pete.” His life came to a tragic end following a train collision in Arlington.  
  
For half a century, Peter E. Kern remained a devoted member of El Paso Lodge No. 130 A.F. & A.M. Lodge records further preserve his legacy through a substantial clock he donated to the fraternity, a lasting reminder of a Mason whose contributions helped shape the growth and character of El Paso.  
  
Photo Credit / Rights: El Paso Lodge No. 130 A.F. & A.M. Archives.  

05/29/2026

For Immediate Release

The Masonic fraternity has historically avoided participation in public controversies and the shifting currents of contemporary political discourse. Such restraint reflects a longstanding preference for measured action over public commentary, particularly given that institutions not widely understood are often subject to speculation, misunderstanding, and unfounded conjecture. Freemasonry has not functioned as a political instrument; rather, its history has developed alongside the civic and institutional growth of the City of El Paso.

The historical development of El Paso is inseparable from the contributions of numerous Freemasons who occupied prominent roles in public life. Among them were the city’s first five mayors, as well as civic leaders whose efforts influenced the legal, educational, and economic foundations of the community. The origins of the El Paso Independent School District likewise reflect the work of these early public servants. The district’s first superintendent and trustees helped establish a framework for public education in the Paso del Norte region at a time when educational opportunities remained limited. Among them, attorney Melton A. Jones devoted considerable effort to advancing literacy and English-language instruction among economically disadvantaged residents, exemplifying a broader commitment to social mobility through education.

Many of the individuals associated with the city’s formative institutions—including figures such as Magoffin and Freudenthal—contributed to the early development of educational governance and civic administration. Their work reflected a tradition of public service that extended beyond local boundaries. Across Texas and the United States, numerous schools bear the names of Freemasons whose leadership helped shape the nation’s educational landscape. This tradition was profoundly influenced by the ideals of Mirabeau B. Lamar, widely regarded as the Father of Texas Public Education, who advanced the principle that broad access to learning serves as a cornerstone of republican government.

Underlying these efforts was a conviction that education provides individuals with the opportunity to improve their circumstances and participate meaningfully in civic life. These early leaders believed that an informed and educated citizenry constituted the strongest safeguard of a stable and prosperous society.

It is in that spirit that we view with concern the present fiscal challenges and long-term direction of the El Paso Independent School District. Institutional deterioration seldom occurs abruptly; more often, it emerges gradually through complacency, weakened oversight, and ineffective leadership. After consultation with our leadership, we express our sincere hope that students, educators, and families are shielded from the adverse effects of instability. The responsibility to preserve and strengthen public education belongs to the entire community. Future generations deserve an educational system that reflects the city’s historic commitment to learning, opportunity, and civic progress.

05/27/2026

Dallas Stoudenmire was born on December 11, 1845, in Aberfoil, Alabama, and emerged from the turbulence of nineteenth-century America as one of the most formidable lawmen of the Texas frontier. During the Civil War, he entered Confederate service, an experience that eventually carried him westward into the borderlands of Las Cruces and later El Paso, where violence, political rivalry, and rapid expansion shaped civic life. In this volatile environment, Stoudenmire cultivated a reputation for fearlessness and uncompromising enforcement of the law. 
 
Following the war, he served with Company A of the Texas Rangers and later became Marshal of Socorro County, New Mexico. In 1881, fellow Mason Mayor Joseph Magoffin appointed him City Marshal of El Paso during a period when the city struggled to establish institutional order along the frontier. His name became permanently linked to the celebrated “Four Dead in Five Seconds” gunfight, an episode later immortalized in Western literature and film and reflective of the harsh realities of frontier justice. 
 
Lodge accounts further suggest that, after accepting appointment as Deputy United States Marshal, tensions intensified between Stoudenmire, former Ranger associates, and competing political factions shaped by the lingering divisions of the Civil War. Personal struggles, including alcohol abuse, deepened the controversies that surrounded his final years. 
 
Freemasonry nevertheless remained central to his life in El Paso. Stoudenmire was initiated, passed, and raised in El Paso Lodge No. 130 A.F. & A.M., whose members stood among the civic architects of the city’s early development. Following his death at the hands of the Manning brothers, the Lodge rendered his final honors, furnishing both the lumber for his coffin and the suit in which he was buried. 
 
Photo Credit / Rights: El Paso Lodge No. 130 A.F. & A.M. Archives. 
 

05/26/2026

Harry W. Mitchell emerged as one of the most recognizable commercial figures in early twentieth-century El Paso. Born in England, he traveled extensively before settling along the United States–Mexico border during a period of profound economic transformation. During Prohibition, when Ciudad Juárez flourished through American tourism and commerce, Mitchell operated the Mint Café and later briefly served as General Manager of Café Central, both closely tied to the social life of the border region.

Mitchell’s lasting influence, however, derived from his role in establishing El Paso’s brewing industry. Alongside three fellow Freemasons, he helped found the Harry Mitchell Brewing Company. Despite financial and industrial obstacles, the enterprise endured through calculated expansion and modernization. Oskar Scholz, the brewery’s original brewmaster and likely a Mason, provided technical expertise during its formative years. By the 1930s, the brewery experienced substantial growth, later strengthened under brewmaster Robert L. Neidhard as public demand increased across the Southwest.

As larger competitors such as Gulf Brewing Company entered the market, Mitchell responded through price adjustments and industrial improvements, including the construction of a canning plant that expanded distribution and revived sales. In 1956, the company was purchased by the Falstaff Brewing Corporation of St. Louis for $1.5 million, equivalent to roughly $18 million today.

Within Freemasonry, Mitchell served as Worshipful Master of El Paso Lodge No. 130 A.F. & A.M. from 1953–1954 and remained active in the Shrine, Scottish Rite, and York Rite. His career reflects the broader role Masons played in shaping the commercial and civic foundations of El Paso.

Photo Credit/Rights: El Paso Lodge No. 130 A.F. & A.M. Archives.

05/25/2026

05/23/2026

Born on November 11, 1922, in Stamford, Texas, Joseph W. Davis was raised on a family farm during the hardships of the Great Depression, an experience that cultivated the discipline and resilience that would define his life. During the Second World War, he enlisted in the United States Army and served in the Pacific Theater, where he was assigned to a unit preparing for the anticipated invasion of Japan before the war’s conclusion altered those operations. 
 
In later years, Davis became involved in aviation recovery and mechanical operations connected to American strategic efforts during the Vietnam era. Working under the civilian aviation enterprise Air America, an organization associated with the Central Intelligence Agency, he assisted in recovering and repairing American aircraft in dangerous regions of Southeast Asia. Operating extensively in Laos and Vietnam, Air America played a significant logistical role during the Cold War by transporting personnel, evacuating refugees, and supporting covert operations under difficult wartime conditions. 
 
A skilled airline mechanic, Davis later continued his profession with Continental Airlines following his military service. Despite his involvement in consequential international operations, he remained deeply grounded in faith, community, and fraternity. A Lutheran by faith, he was known for his humility and service to others, reportedly assisting a neighbor with yard work shortly before his death. 
 
Within Freemasonry, Davis earned enduring respect for his dedication to El Paso Lodge No. 130 A.F. & A.M., where he served twice as Worshipful Master, a rare distinction. He maintained close associations with Fredrick McFarlane and Finus Werner, while also participating actively in the Scottish Rite and York Rite bodies. In a final testament to his lifelong devotion to the Craft, he attended one last lodge meeting shortly before his passing. 
 
Photo Credit / Rights: El Paso Lodge No. 130 A.F. & A.M. Archives.