{"nrhp_refnum":"86001611","name":"Old Masonic Hall","other_names":["Old Masonic Lodge Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"15 N. Masonic St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Bellville","county":"Austin County","state":"TX","lat":29.951050344000066,"lon":-96.25809861199997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-08-14","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story frame lodge building at 15 N. Masonic Street in Bellville, Austin County, Texas, built in 1886-87 on the site of an 1858 predecessor. J. J. Stopple is named as architect and builder.","why_significant":"The building served as the meeting place of Bellville Lodge No. 223 from 1887 to 1967, and its ground floor hosted school, church, civic and community gatherings. The site's earlier 1858 hall housed a school and the first services of St. Mary's Episcopal Church. Lodge members, including Senator A. Chesley, were prominent in the town's development. The building also retains a high degree of original interior and exterior fabric.","narrative":"Built in 1886-87 at 15 N. Masonic Street in Bellville, this two-story frame building was designed as a Masonic lodge on the upper floor and a community room below. It replaced an 1858 hall on the same lot, where a school met and St. Mary's Episcopal Church held its first Bellville services in 1861. J. J. Stopple, then Lodge Master, is named as architect and builder. Bellville Lodge No. 223 met here until 1967. The ground floor also hosted church business, Chamber of Commerce meetings, school banquets and parties. Its exterior has lapped siding, double-hung windows, cornice medallions and brackets. Inside, the lodge room keeps pine floors, bead-board wainscot and Eastlake-style trim. Roughly half the wall boards beneath the wallpaper may be reused from the earlier hall. By 1986 the Bellville Historical Society, which bought the building in 1984 after it was threatened with moving or dismantling, was removing 1950s additions and restoring the original doors and windows.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899 and 1900- (specific date 1886)","architect_builder":"J. J. Stopple","architectural_style":"Eastlake interior millwork on a simple, functional frame lodge design","criteria":[],"status_note":"At the time of nomination (1986) the building was unoccupied and vacant, with work in progress to remove 1950s additions and restore the original configuration; planned future use by the historical society and civic groups.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:21.303668-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/22/9710/40971022/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/86001611.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86001611/b8ff6bc929-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86001611/b8ff6bc929-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 4.0","author":"Larry D. Moore","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_masonic_hall_2008.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Larry D. Moore</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_masonic_hall_2008.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40971022","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Masonic_Hall_(Bellville,_Texas)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7084482"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/austin-county/old-masonic-hall-86001611/"}