Some TLC for 164-Year-Old LG Building

Last week some exterior work was being done on the stately Old Masonic Building on Travis St. just off the courthouse square. Henry Rhode constructed the Masonic building in 1860 with Florian Meyer serving as contractor. Constructed of limestone blocks covered with stucco, it rises three stories and is crowned with a projecting stone cornice.

After the death of Rhode in 1862, the La Fayette Lodge No. 34, A.F. & A.M. and the I.O.O.F. Lodge No. 30 purchased the building in 1866. Among the occupants of the building over the years were attorney Joseph Brown (founder of the J. C. Brown Abstract Company, later known as the Fayette County Abstract Company), the National Farm and Loan Association, the Brenham Production Credit Association, and the Soil Conservation Service and law offices. The building received the Recorded Texas Historic Landmark designation in 1962.