1921:Encouraged by the growth of Masonry in Sioux City, a number of Masons living in Leeds began to think about creating their own Lodge.
November 7, 1921: At an enthusiastic meeting of about 20 Master Masons from Leeds, Hinton and vicinity was held in Leeds to discuss plans for organizing a Lodge During the meeting Brother Cyrus T. Hansen was anmed Temporary Secretary.
End of 1921 to beginning of 1922: Several meeting were held and after an exemplification of the work held in Landmark Lodge No. 103 recommendations for a charter were filed with the Grand Lodge of Iowa.
February 16, 1922: Amos W. Alberson, Grand Master of Masons in Iowa, granted the Leeds Masons a Dispensation, giving them authority to present work officially.
March 3, 1922: The first officers were installed and the first meeting was held. The lodge had 28 original members, Wilson D. Rich was the first Worshipful Master, there were 14 raisings during its first year, and it met on the first Friday of the month. The location was listed as Leeds Station, Sioux City, Iowa. The lodge shared a hall with the International Order of Odd Fellows, or I.O.O.F. for which rent was $5.00 per meeting.
June 14, 1922: The Grand Lodge of Iowa granted a permanent charter. Triangle became the 643rd Blue Lodge chartered in the state of Iowa.
1923: The meeting date moved to the second Tuesday of the month. Initiation fees were $50.00 to join and dues were $4.00 per year.
April 17, 1947: A new location was dedicated and the lodge moved to it's new home in Leeds at 4007-09 Floyd Avenue.
December 31, 1957: This was a high water mark for number of members at Triangle Lodge , by year end it was 582 members on. Triangle Lodge had not had that many members before or since.
October 19, 1968: A Temple Dedication was held for the current location at 3100 41st Street. Grand Master Edwin Hamilton presided. The Worshipful Master of Triangle Lodge that year was R. Keith McDuddlin.
November 1968: Past Grand Master of Masons in South Dakota, Right Worshipful Brother Kenneth Glasser is first Brother confered in new Lodge building at 3100 41st Street.
November 24, 1971: Worshipful Master for 2010 is born.
January 1, 1972: The mailing address was Post Office Box 75L.
There seems to be some discrepency's as to where Triangle Lodge was located from 1922 to the time it moved into the current location on 41st Street. Most of the info. about the Lodge's history came from the Grand Lodge of Iowa. The Worshipful Master for 2010 did his own research at the Pearl St. Research Center in Sioux City. Here is what he found:
1. Floyd Blvd was originally called Floyd Avenue.
2. The only I.O.O.F. Lodge found in Leeds was at 815 Floyd Ave, today that address is 4015 Floyd Blvd.
3. What is known as the Leeds area or neighborhood today originally started out as the town of Leeds. Leeds was it's own town for about 6 months to a year and was officially annexed by Sioux City in 1891. The addresses today were differant at the time the I.O.O.F. and Triangle Lodge were originally located on Floyd. Thus the reason why the address for both was 815 Floyd Ave. Sioux City later changed the addresses to their system.
4. Triangle Lodge was located above Browns Fine Foods at 4009 Floyd Ave.
5. In March of 1922 Triangle Lodge was located at 4011 Floyd Ave .
6. In 1943 Triangle Lodge was located at 4100 Floyd Ave. This location was listed as Riediger's Hardware. After Triangle Lodge moved in the late 1960's the building was Taylor's Tap, then a resteraunt called LJ's and it is currently for sale.
7. There was a fire at one of the previous locations where Triangle Lodge was located.
If this information is compared to the timeline above people will notice the discrepency. It is not known which is the truest history of the location of Triangle Lodge, but it does make for an interesting history.
Here are photo's of the buildings at 4007 to 4015 Floyd Blvd and 4100 Floyd Blvd as they look today:
Here is video footage of some of the history of Triangle Lodge No. 643. The video is in two parts and is narrated by the late Worshipful Brother Duane Dydahl, PM, Triangle Lodge No. 643. It entails the construction of the current lodge building:
Here is the lodge as it looks today:
