They've gone. The old Indian settlement. The Texaco oil refinery. The home of Beehive Golden Corn Syrup (that great Canadian energy source boiled by the tanker load). The radial tram running from the mouth of the Credit to Toronto. The freighters in the harbour have been replaced by flotillas of pleasure craft, and the stone hookers are just a memory.

But the lodge, Mississauga No. 524, is still there. And if old buildings could only speak----

The building was erected by the Mississauga Indians and the Methodist settlers in 1838. It was the first church in the area. The site was the Indian encampment, now crossed by the QEW and covered by a private golf course and executive homes.

That community moved south to the mouth of the river at the command of Governor/Colonel John G. Simcoe to consolidate trade and facilitate defense. When the population grew the one-room church was moved ---intact---to meet the need. The Mississauga Indians were relocated moved to a reserve on the Grand River.

The Church eventually outgrew the original building and moved a block north. The old building became The Shaw Hall, a community centre housing amateur theatrics and visiting lecturers, and eventually screening the first movies to be shown in the area.

Port Credit became a village in 1914, coincidentally the same year Masonry came to town. It was called Mississauga Lodge, of course, but it did not start in Shaw Hall.

J.J. Foyt, a leading citizen and future Attorney General of Ontario, held six meetings in his home, a manor house overlooking the Credit. The lodge was happy with the arrangement, but direction came to get their own meeting hall, so with Bro. Foyt's assistance, they purchased the old church.

Furnishing was cooperative. The altar came from Ashlar, a Toronto Lodge gone dark. It made the trek from a church basement in downtown Toronto in horse-drawn carts along with the pedestals and officers' chairs, but not without casualty. The still lodge has tracing boards for the first and second degrees but the third is listed as "missing".

The benches with blue padding squeak in the north and south when brethren shift weight. These were added when Brampton lodges closed the downtown temple and opted for a more modern decor in suburban Bramalea.

An anteroom, basement, and central heating were added in 1926, retiring the pot-bellied stove that stood between the Worshipful Master and the Secretary. That year was the last time the brethren saw the scars of the adzes wielded by pioneers and Mississaugas who squared 14 inch timbers to support their house of worship.

Mississauga No. 524 was on its own for almost forty years until joined in the old church by South Gate No. 674 in 1953 and Joseph A. Hearn No. 685. In visiting all of these lodges, I found the traffic light, parking free and convenient, and the brethren welcoming. Once inside, I could settle back and bask in a sense of peaceful history.

The building has been designated as a historical site by the town but it does not have a historical marker. Perhaps it should. It's a part of the past of the entire community.

"Mississauga"--from Ojibwa "Missisauk", meaning "large outlet".

COMMENTS

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V.W.Bro. Ted Morris,  76 Ballacaine Drive, Etobicoke, Ont., M8Y 4B7
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The above column, "The Traveller",  is an addition to the GLCPOO site and will be archived for your future viewing here.

Comments relating to the above article may be made directly to Ted Morris and will be collected, edited and then, probably, attached to the relative article, on the following month. This should add interest and add freshness to the articles.