Hiram Masonic Lodge No. 7, a Gothic revival building constructed in 1823, is the oldest public building in Franklin, Tennessee. It houses Hiram Lodge No. 7, founded in 1809 and the oldest Masonic Hall in continuous use in Tennessee. It was the location of the negotiation and signing of the Treaty of Franklin in 1830, in which the Chickasaw Indians sold their lands prior to being moved west to today's Oklahoma. Sitting president Andrew Jackson was a participant. The building was used as a hospital for wounded Union soldiers after the Battle of Franklin, during the American Civil War.
It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1973.
Famous quotes containing the word lodge:
“The Indians invited us to lodge with them, but my companion inclined to go to the log camp on the carry. This camp was close and dirty, and had an ill smell, and I preferred to accept the Indians’ offer, if we did not make a camp for ourselves; for, though they were dirty, too, they were more in the open air, and were much more agreeable, and even refined company, than the lumberers.... So we went to the Indians’ camp or wigwam.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)