Samuel H. Davis Lodge #96 A.F.&A.M. had a history in Mt. Morris dating back nearly 150 years. It was organized some time before 1850, though the exact date does not appear in its records, and it was reorganized and officially chartered on October 6, 1851, several years after the incorporation of the Village of Mt. Morris. In 1876, the Forreston Lodge was consolidated with Samuel H. Davis Lodge. For most of its existence, the lodge met across the street on the second floor of the old Sprecher building, where the Masonic emblem bears the date 1876. In 1851, James Clark, who was Senior Warden of the lodge, was said to be the oldest Mason in the world; he had been made a Mason at Sunbury, Ohio, in 1820 and remained a Mason into his 90s. Worshipful Brother Harold Ross of the lodge became Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Illinois in 1962-69. Most memorabilia is located in the Mounder Museum at the Village Hall.