Landrum Lodge No. 48 was instituted in the spring of 1881.  It worked under the dispensation until the Grand Lodge met the following year, when it was given a charter bearing the date November 2, 1882.  The original members in the undertaking were all, save one, members of Ancient Landmark No. 231.  The leading spirit was E.L. Neidlinger.  Associated with him were Henry B. Tompkins, Judge of the Superior Court; H.T. Botts, insurance agent; L.W. Landershine, bookkeeper; H.H. Sasnett, shoe dealer; Louis M. Ryals, beer distributor; W.J. Marshall, bookkeeper, C.F. Sanberg, wheelwright; and Rev. James O. Branch, pastor of Trinity Methodist Church.  The latter held membership in Solomon’s Lodge No. 1 and served as the first Master of Landrum Lodge.

 

The name “Landrum” was in honor of Rev. Sylvanus Landrum, for a number of years pastor of the First Baptist Church and a Past Master of Ancient Landmark Lodge.  Despite this, Landrum Lodge was known as the “Methodist Lodge” for many years, as so many of its members were of that faith.  The “No. 48” was to supply a gap made vacant when Jackson Lodge No. 48 of Hickory Grove, Georgia became defunct.