Zion Lodge No. 1, F. and A. M.

On April 27, 1764, the provincial grand master of the Free and Accepted Masons in New York issued a charter to a Masonic lodge in Detroit. The Royal American Regiment’s Lieutenant John Christie was the master of the lodge, Michigan’s first. The Detroit Masons first adopted the name Zion Lodge in 1794 when they began operating under a new charter from Quebec. With American occupation of Michigan, the lodge again came under the Grand Lodge of New York, which issued a new charter in 1806 to “Zion Lodge No. 1” of Detroit. This name was retained by the Grand Lodge of Michigan when it was formed in 1826. Zion Lodge suspended operations during the War of 1812 and during the anti-masonic agitation of 1829-45, but each time its functions were resumed.