Three years had passed since the War Between the States had ended. The Federal troops had pulled out of Strasburg and the town had settled down to rebuild a future. Young men who had served the Confederate States Army were now home working at their occupations. The men who served their state in the war no doubt had met other men who were Masons. They most likely saw Masonry in action, so they beca
me interested in Masonry, but there was no Lodge in Strasburg. Brother William H. LeHew, a railroad employee, was a Mason. He had moved to Strasburg from Front Royal, Virginia. He worked as an agent for the Manassas Gap Railroad. LeHew and nineteen other men wanted to organize a Masonic Lodge. The name Spurmont came from the North end of the Massanutten Mountain, which resembled a spur. This is how they decided on the name of Spurmont. The Grand Lodge of Virginia issued the dispensation on December 15, 1868. On June 6, 1868, Spurmont Lodge No. 98 received its dispensation to organize and begin work from Most Worshipful William Terry, Grand Master of Masons in Virginia. The officers appointed by this dispensation were:
W. LeHew Worshipful Master
J. Crawford Senior Warden
R. Lee Junior Warden. The Grand Lodge Proceedings of 1869 record the following officers: W. LeHew, Worshipful Master; J. Crawford, Senior Warden; R. Lee, Junior Warden; J. Keister, Treasurer; C. Borum, Secretary; L. Hurn, Senior Deacon; D. Spengler, Junior Deacon; L. Sibole, Chaplain; Amos Deister, Steward; and L. Fleet, Tiler. The members were: A. Barb; Robert Balthis; B. Corder; Albert Funk; T. Kenner; A. Kelley; J. S. Pifer; T. Haycock; J. Ramey and Joseph Watson. Spurmont Lodge No. 98 has seen and weathered bad as well as good times. It was just an infant in the Reconstruction Days. It grew to adolescence during Custers Massacre, the depression of 1897, and the Spanish American War. Some of its members served their country in the Spanish American War. When she was forty-one years old, she laid the cornerstone of the first public high school in Strasburg on May 4, 1910, with the assistance of Cassia Lodge No. 142 of Woodstock, Virginia and Hunter Lodge No. 135 of Edinburgh. This school was destroyed by fire on June 7, 1968, just one hundred years and a day since the dispensation was given to Spurmont Lodge. In beginning her second fifty years, World War I greeted her. Some of her Brethren were called to serve. As Spurmont celebrated her three score years, prosperity was high. Little did she know as she reached Social security age, that the Depression would fall upon her. Yet, the Brethren put their Masonry to work and the Lodge held together. During this time the Lodge laid the cornerstone of the Toms Brook Elementary School in 1938. When the Diamond Anniversary rolled around, World War II was coming to an end. Many of her Brethren again served their country well. As her one-hundredth birthday approached on December 15, 1968, she had been through the Korean Conflict and was struggling in the Viet Nam War. If the first one hundred years was any indication of the next one hundred, Spurmont Lodge No. 98 will continue on its dedicated Masonic course.
