Fort Valley Lodge No. 110 and City of Fort Valley
...a short history about us
Fort Valley, Georgia, USA
Fort Valley was founded in the 1820’s in Crawford County as a Native American trading post, the origin of the name is unclear. There is some information that shows the town may have originally been named “Fox Valley” and was misread by post office officials in Washington, D.C., as “Fort Valley.” Another story of the town’s name points to being named for the original founder James Abbington Everett’s friend, Arthur Fort, a Revolutionary War hero from nearby Milledgeville. No historical information indicates that Fort Valley ever hosted a military fort on the site or nearby.

The original Fort Valley Post Office was established in 1825 while still in Crawford County. The town moved South-East a few miles into Houston County sometime after the originally established Post Office, and prior to the official city charter of March 3, 1856. At one point the area was extremely heavy with traffic from the railway and trading. Two large hotels existed inside the city boundaries in the 1800’s to host the capacity of visitors to the area. Fort Valley became part of Peach County when the Georgia General Assembly approved a constitutional amendment to create Peach County from parts of Houston and Macon Counties on July 18, 1924. The amendment was ratified by Georgia voters on Nov 4, 1924, officially establishing Peach County as the last, and newest county of the state. In 1924 after the establishment of Peach County, Georgia had 161 Counties. In 1932 Campbell and Milton counties were officially dissolved, leaving the current number at 159 counties in Georgia.

Fort Valley became the county seat for Peach County and home to several notable organizations. While the area has long been based on agriculture and known as the Peach Capital of the World, it also ranks as the 6th in production of pecans in the nation. Blue Bird corporation was founded in 1927 and is the world’s largest producer of school buses, and Fort Valley State University is also here, and has the state’s 2nd largest campus with nearly 1,400 acres.

Fort Valley Masonic Lodge
Fort Valley Lodge No. 110 F&AM was chartered on 31 October 1849 in Houston County The Fort Valley Lodge hall for meals and gatherings (now part of Peach County). The lodge charter pre-dates the official city charter of Fort Valley in 1856 by seven years. The lodge met in the same building as the International Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) Lodge in Fort Valley until around 1897. The IOOF and Masonic bodies in many cities would share their buildings with each other for lodge meetings, and in some cases, members would belong to both organizations, Fort Valley does not appear to be an exception to this.

Around 1897 the Fort Valley lodge moved into its own building at 106 W. Church Street on the second floor. The adjacent building at 100-1/2 W. Church Street was occupied by the Georgia York Rite which consisted of only the Austin Chapter No. 18 chartered 31 May 1848, and the Ivanhoe Commandery No. 10 chartered 21 May 1894. The York Rite H.C. Rigdon Jr. Council No. 35 was later added to the York Rite bodies of Fort Valley when it was chartered 16 April 1952. It is currently unclear what became of the IOOF lodge in Fort Valley, and research continues in an attempt to locate the original building.


The original lodge charter preserved after being damaged in a fire Sometime around the 1960's a fire broke out in the Fort Valley lodge room at 106 W. Church street which caused significant damage to the lodge on the second floor. It was decided to move the lodge into the same building as the Fort Valley York Rite at 100-1/2 W. Church St. as a benefit to both masonic bodies. The second floor of 106 W. Church Street still houses some of the old furniture from the lodge. The charter for the lodge, along with many other important documents, were salvaged from the building but show extensive deterioration and burn marks. A new charter was reissued from the Grand Lodge of Georgia in 1999 and is on display at the lodge with the original charter.

Currently the Blue Lodge meets twice a month and the York Rite bodies meet once monthly sharing the same rooms. The lodge was designed for the York Right bodies and some of the additional rooms off the main lodge room were partitioned for various rites held by the York Rite. The building consists of three floors, the first is reserved for businesses that rent out the space. The second floor consists of a meeting hall and kitchen for preparing meals, the lodge room, and various smaller rooms that are used by both the Blue lodge and York Rite. There are some additional rooms that once served as locker areas that are currently only used for storage. A third floor exists and was once a locker area also, but now mostly houses the buildings HVAC equipment and serves as storage.

Additional Historical Notesa close up picture of a North wall pillar showing a subdued latch

Prior to the Civil War, Fort Valley was a large hub for trains to transport many goods through the railway systems, Fort Valley produced many agricultural products that shipped around the nation. During the civil war, Fort Valley’s location and trains transformed from shipping supplies and food to supporting the war efforts. Historical records show that the Buckner and Gamble field hospitals were located inside Fort Valley’s city limits and included additional temporary hospitals, some of which are traced to the Tennessee Army Hospitals which moved frequently. A southward movement of the Tennessee Army Hopitals started in 1863 and established some temporary hospitals in Fort Valley. While research is still ongoing to determine the exact locations of the hospitals in Fort Valley, it is currently believed that the 100-1/2 W. Church Street building may have housed, at least for a short time, one of the hospitals in Fort Valley.

picture of a North wall pillar opened to reveal a compartment
One of the currently unproven artifacts of this may still exist in the lodge meeting room. Looking at the pillars of the room on the South and North wall, they appear insignificant. Closer inspection of the pillars reveal latches and hinges subtly installed that allow the pillars to open. The secret compartment in each of the pillars is rumored to allow hidden storage of weapons and other supplies for soldiers and staff to utilize in protection of the building. Both the Blue lodge and York Rite bodies appear to have gone dark (suspended meetings) during this time which would be consistent with many other organizations during this time period. It should be noted that the Blue Lodge did not move into the 106 W. Church Street building until after the end of the Civil War, and did not occupy the 100-1/2 W. Church Street building until after the fire in 1962.

Below are photos taken of the lodge in recently.
The above information and photographs were written/taken by Bro. B. Greg Colburn Jr. and researched from multiple sources below. Greg is not a historian but is researching more information on the history of the Fort Valley Lodge and surrounding city. Greg activley belongs to the Fort Valley Blue Lodge and the Fort Valley York Rite bodies

Research Sources:
Fort Valley City (Website); Peach County Chamber of Commerce (Website); SherpaGuides Georgia (Website); Fort Valley Lodge Historical Records; Grand Lodge of the International Order of Odd Fellows, Savannah GA. (Thanks to their GL Secretary Mr. Humphrey); Arcadia Publishing “Fort Valley” by Gilda E. Stanbery and James Khoury (Website); Georgia Encyclopedia (Website)