Free masons – from the oldest and largest worldwide fraternity – casually met in the Thunder Bay area at a bunkhouse at the Shuniah Mine prior to the Lodge’s first official meeting on September 7, 1872. In 1887, the Masons bought the former Port Arthur Town Hall building where they operated until fire destroyed it in 1907. The current Lodge – part of the Grand Lodge of Canada in the Province of Ontario – was built in 1909-10 and designed by architect Marshall B. Aylesworth. It was constructed for commercial purposes at street level while the upper floors were to house Lodge facilities. Local Nipigon quarries supplied the marble for the entrance and the staircase to the second floor. On the staircase landing is a First World War memorial to fallen Lodge members. The second floor houses the impressive Lodge Hall, with its 5.8-metre (19-foot) vaulted ceiling and Ionic pilasters. The vaulted ceilings continue into the banquet hall, where portraits of past Masters are displayed. The Lodge’s social rooms are located on the third floor, one of which contains a 100-year-old antique pool table.