On a day in March 1835, Brothers Anson Jones, John H. Wharton, Asa Brigham, J.A.E. Phelps, Alex Russell, and J.P. Caldwell met here and resolved to petition the Grand Lodge of Louisiana for a dispensation to form a lodge of Freemasons. Their prayer was granted, and Holland Lodge began work. Lodges were later at Nacogdoches and San Augustine, and on December 20th, 1837, these three lodges created the Grand Lodge of the Republic of Texas with M. W. Anson Jones as the first Grand Master of Masons in Texas.