How a lodge supply drawer became a supply company.
Every regional supplier has a founding story. Ours is small: the officers of one lodge needed regalia, and pooling their orders was cheaper than each ordering separately. That pool became a catalog. The catalog became a company.
In 1978, the outgoing Worshipful Master of St. Louis Missouri Lodge No. 1 was preparing to receive his Past Master jewel. The lodge’s Secretary made a note that a shared purchasing arrangement with the two adjacent lodges could cut the cost of jewels, aprons, and working tools by nearly a third. The three lodges agreed. The Secretary held the funds and placed the orders through a wholesale supplier. That was the beginning.
By 1985 seven lodges under the Grand Lodge of Missouri were participating. The Secretary’s office had a shelf and then a room dedicated to regalia and equipment for the participating lodges. The first STL Masons catalog was printed that year, four typewritten pages long, mimeographed and mailed to Grand Lodge officers as an FYI.
In 1990 the first lodge outside Missouri opened an account. That account was Cedar Creek Lodge No. 342 in central Illinois, and Cedar Creek remains a customer to this day. By the late 1990s we were serving lodges in five states.
The stlmasons.com domain was registered in 2003 as an alternate web address for the shared lodge and supply presence. In 2008 the supply business formally spun out as a Missouri LLC, operating under license from Grand Lodge of Missouri A.F. & A.M., separated from lodge accounting.
The warehouse at 11122 Olive Blvd in Creve Coeur has been our home since 2010. In 2020 we added nationwide shipping and specialty regalia lines for Scottish Rite, York Rite, and Shrine. The warehouse expansion in 2023 brought us to 12,000 square feet.
Today we serve 2,400+ lodge accounts under nine Grand Lodges across the Midwest, with custom jewels shipped nationwide. The Past Master jewel we fabricated for the outgoing Master of Lodge No. 1 in 1978 was the first one; the 5,000th shipped in October 2024. The math is unremarkable and the work has not fundamentally changed.
47 years, ten markers.
- 1978
Founded as an in-house supply operation for the officers of St. Louis Missouri Lodge No. 1, the oldest active Masonic lodge in Missouri.
- 1985
Neighboring lodges under Grand Lodge of Missouri begin ordering through the operation; catalog printed for the first time.
- 1990
Expanded to serve lodges beyond St. Louis. First lodge account outside Missouri opened (Grand Lodge of Illinois).
- 2003
Domain stlmasons.com registered as an alternate contact address for the shared lodge and supply presence.
- 2008
Formally spun out as a Missouri LLC under license from Grand Lodge of Missouri A.F. & A.M. Supply business separated from lodge accounting.
- 2010
Moved to current warehouse at 11122 Olive Blvd in Creve Coeur. 7,500 sqft climate-controlled inventory.
- 2015
Added specialty regalia line for Scottish Rite Valleys under proper authorization from local Valleys.
- 2020
Added nationwide shipping. Warehouse expansion begins.
- 2023
Warehouse expansion completed. 12,000 sqft total. Inventory grew to 12,000 SKUs.
- 2025
Currently serving 2,400+ lodge accounts under nine Grand Lodges plus nationwide custom jewel orders.
The domain stlmasons.com has been continuously registered since 2003 and shared history with the original St. Louis Missouri Lodge No. 1 web presence, which continues today under its own identity. The supply company operates independently. We remain grateful to the officers of Lodge No. 1 for the original arrangement that made this business possible.