1817 Royal Arch Masons Seek Charter
Monroe No. 1 is Born
Michigan Masonry can definitely regard the year 1817 as a very important one, because it brought into being the sister Masonic body which could and did aid and abed the functions of Zion Lodge No. 1. We refer to the creation of Monroe Chapter No. 1, Royal Arch Masons which really began as a result of a series of organizational meetings chaired by Col. Edmond Kirby during the Fall of 1817.
The records of Zion Lodge are mute evidence to the fact that many of Zion's Past Masters and members were interested in the Royal Arch, so much so that from time to time they asked permission of the lodge to go to Amherstburgh, Canada to receive the Degree. To prove this statement, we quote as follows from Zion's minutes of January 7, 1803;
"Brother (Past Master James) McDonnel request a recommendation from our lodge to the Royal Arch Lodge of Amherstburgh, wishing to be raised to that Degree. Agreed to."
Later in the year 1817, a petition was sent to DeWitt, Clinton, General Grand High Priest of the General Grand Chapter, praying for a dispensation to form a Royal Arch Chapter. This dispensation was granted February 3, 1818, thus the only Chapter in Michigan for more than a quarter century began its activities at a time when there was only one Masonic Lodge in Michigan Territory, Zion Lodge No. 1, under the register of the Grand Lodge of New York.
Monroe was thus the pioneer Chapter of the whole great northwest, Ohio and Kentucky being the only states of what was then known as "The West," where Royal Arch Masonry had previously been organized.
Monroe Dispensation
"Be it known that I, DeWitt Clinton, Grand High Priest of the General Grand Royal Arch Chapter of the United States of America, by virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution, do by these presents authorize and empower our worthy Companion Lewis Cass, Sylvester Day, Chester Root, Thomas Noxon, John Palmer, Robert Irwin, A.G. Whitney, B. Stead, Ph. Le Cuyer, John Anderson, Sol. Sibley, Henry Bronson, M. Marston and Edmund Kirby, to form, open and hold a Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, in the City of Detroit, in the Michigan Territory, from the date hereof until the first day of the next meeting of the General Grand Royal Arch Chapter of the United States of America (unless it should be my pleasure sooner to revoke and annul the same), which shall be known and distinguished by the name of Monroe Chapter, and I do hereby appoint our worthy Companions, Edmund Kirby, High Priest; Lewis Cass, King; Sylvester Day, Scribe, of the said Chapter.
Army assignments are, however, never too permanent and young Kirby was soon ordered to duty in another field and it fell to Cass, Territorial Governor and later First Grand Master of Masons in Michigan, to assume the office of High Priest.
Taken from the Sesquicentennial of the Grand Lodge, celebrating the Bicentennial in 1976
Confusion often occurs with our location. Why are we in Detroit and not in Monroe, Michigan. Monroe, Michigan originally was called Frenchtown because a lot of French settled there in the late 1700s. They had ribbon farms on the River Raisin, similar to the ribbon farms in Detroit at the time. The village of Monroe was incorporated on April 12, 1827, a decade after the formation of Monroe Chapter No. 1. (note by secretary)