Aruba 11 de. Noviembre 1911,

A la Respetable Logia ,

Igualdad Ho. 6c3.

del Orients de CURACAO.

SALUD.. FUERZA, UNION. __________

Sentimos. gran placer en participaros por esta la

(

. feliz organización de nuestro centro masónico con n ombre de "EL SOL NA- CIENTE", cuyo movil es propender el desarro llo de la Intelectualidad, la Moral, y las Buenas Costumbres, trabajando así para el mejoramiento general, con el fin de levant ar mas tarde cuando sea posible, un Templo masónico en esta -Is la. Su Directiva quedo compuesta como sigue: H. J. SCHREUDER, Prdte. .

L. J. M. HENRIQUEZ, Secto - Tesro.,-y H.,IRAUSQUIN LA MPE, Orador.- ■

, Son miembros todos masones que fuesen aceptados , y tendrá sus . -

Tenidas.br-dinarias por turno en casa de los Miemb ros cada quince

días, en cuya ocasión solo se tratan y discuten pie zas o

proposiciones que tiendan al interés general y al d e nuestro Centro

en particular.

Nos ofrecemos a vuestras órdenes como luchadores p ara la

noble causa y contamos que nuestro Centro no dejará de merecer

vuestra simpatía y que nos favorecerá con sus luces y atención.

Celebramos poder notificaros, que una tenida

extraordinaria verificada el sábado pasado, a la c ual

asistieron diferentes Profanos invitados para el ef ecto, se

vio coronada de un éxito feliz, provocando seria fr iccion en

los cerebros del Fanatismo, y alimentando a los áni mos de

buenos elementos.

Ya que nuestra financia aun no alcanza para poder sufragar

muchos gastos, nos permitimos solicitar de Vos: por algunos

días cualquiera pieza edificante o lecturas útiles cuando

tenga, asegurándoles que tendremos especial cuidado con ellos

pa eu debida devolución, —

Anticipamos las gracias por estos favores y con

nuestros mas sinceros votos por Vuestro Progreso ad emás de

fraternales saludos, somos

pp. El Centro Masónico "EL. SOL KACIEMTE" El

secretario.

TELEGRAPHIC ADOftCSS, "LETCHWOBTH. LONDON;

8th May, 1912.

Dear Sir and W.Brother,

Adverting to your enquiry contained in your letter of

the 12th March.; the matter to which you refer, tha t of the

founding a new lodge in Aruba Island would not be l ikely to

receive the favourable consideration of the K.W-Gra nd Master

as of late years the brethren whose duty it is to advise the

Grand Master on such matters have viewed with disfa vour the

establishment of new lodges at a distance from the Grand Lodge

unless there is an intermediate authority near by b y which it

may be regulated. Under the circumstances therefo re, I do

not think, that it would be likely that a petition if presented

would be entertained.

I may say that I am unable to trace the treaty

between Great Britain and the Grand Lodge of the Ne therlands to

which you refer, but even if it existed, I do not t hink that

for the reason I have stated it would affect the re sult of an

application. Yours fraternally,

Bro.R.W.Prince,Sec., Lodge No. 653, Curacao.

*-vC* £~Cjj24*^(3^hA^a**4£j

Aruba: (Dutch West Indies) November 1914.

C")

To the M. W. Grand Master of the

United Fraternity of Antiant Free and

Accepted Masons of England:

_ -LONDON —

We, the undersigned, being regularly registered Master

MASONS of the Lodges mentioned against our respective

names, having the prosperity of the Craft at heart, are—

anxious to exert our best endeavours to promote and diffuse

the genuine principles of the art, and, for the conveniency

of our respective dwellings and other good reasons, we

are desirous of forming a new Lodge, to be named “ El

Sol Naciente” In consequence of this desire, we pray for a

warrant of constitution, empowering us to meet as a regular

Lodge at Aruba on the first Saturday of every month

and there to discharge the

dut ies of Masonry, in a const i tut ional manner, according to

the forms of the Order and the laws of the Grand Lodge?,

and we have nominated and do recommend Brother Harmen

Ja Schreuder who has served the office of Warden in a re-

gular Lodge to be the first Master, Brother Leonardo Johan

to be the.first Senior Warden, and Brother Cornelis

to be the first Junior Warden of the said Lodge.

The prayer of this petition being granted, we promise strict

obedience to the commands of the Grand Master and laws

and regulations :of the Grand Lodge.

All seven above-

^

HISTORY : EL SOL NACIENTE NO.113

The turn of the century was an important era for

freemasonry in Aruba.

During this period, 1900, the gold mining co. was

still very active and in the hands of English engi-

neering supervision.

Due to this fact, many English masons were statione d

on the island bringing with it the founding of a so

called "Masonic club", however, this did not progre ss

any further.

In 1911 there was already a group of Arubans, who

became member of Igualdad lodge no. 653 who took ov er

the Masonic club.

In 1912, this group attempted to acquire a charter from

the grand lodge of England through the aid of their

mother lodge Igualdad.

'These members were, bro:. Cornelis Hendrik Eman, H armen Jan

Schreuder, Horacio Irausquin Lampe, Leonardo Macabe us

Henriquez and Jan Hendrik Albert Eman.

The name given to the Masonic club was: El Sol Naci ente. It

so happened that the request for the charter was no t

granted, grand lodge of England ruled that there no t being

a district grand lodge in the area to exercise supe rvision,

the request was not entertained. This group, howeve r, was

rather persistent. Once more, a petition was filed with the

grand lodge of England whereupon this Grand Lodge r eferred

the matter to the Grand Lodge of the Netherlands.

The results were that to obtain the requested chart er for

Aruba, seven (7) of the members of Igualdad Lodge r esiding

In Aruba had to travel by schooner to Curacao and g et their

Membership from Lodge de Vergenoeging.

According to the protestant church records, on Marc h 23, 1917,

An invitation was sent to El Sol Naciente Masonic c lub to

Participate in the 400 anniversary of the Dutch Ref orm

Protestant Church, which will take place on October 31, 1917.

The church records further state that on June 1917: El Sol

Naciente Masonic club thanked the secretary and inf ormed him

that the members accepted the invitation and will a ttend as

individuals but not as club members.

On August 13, 1920 the following Breth:. traveled t o Curacao

For this purpose: Bro:. L.J.M. Henriquez, H.J. Schr euder,

H. Yrausquin Lampe, H.L. Scholten, C.H. Eman, S.A.A .

Henriquez and Veeris.

Three months later, on November 15, 1920 the charte r was

Granted to el sol naciente by the grand lodge of ho lland.

According to our records, a letter dated may 14th, 1921

States the following: installation of lodge El Sol Naciente

Under the grand east of Holland.

Lodge installed by Bro:. Quast, lt. Gov. of Aruba, who was

appointed by Bro:. Delegate Winkel who was unable t o attend.

The W:.Mm:. ( after thanking Bro:. Delegate winkel who was

unable to attend. The w:m:., after thanking bro:. Q uast and

the Installation Committee, talked about the goal f irst

reached after twelve years of hard work as a "Mason ic center".

According to the register of members the following were

The first candidates to be initiated: Edgar Raul He nriquez,

Clerk; on June 24, 1922.

Idelgo Iden Frigerio, telegraphist, on June 24, 192 2 and

August Bernhart Kuiperi, clerk, on December 25, 192 4.

During these early years El Sol Naciente operated i n the

Spanish language with rituals received from Igualda d which

at that time also operated in Spanish.

In 1927 the Standard Oil Co. Ltd. started operation s on

the east side of the island under the name of "Pan Am".

this again brought with it a new swing.

The American Masons who came to the island as emplo yees of

The Pan Am requested affiliation with El Sol Nacien te.

They being the overwhelming majority and not able t o

speak Spanish, obtained English rituals from the

Grand Lodges in the USA.

It was not until later years after the end of WW-II

That Dutch translated rituals were introduced.

During the twenties El Sol Naciente operated in a

Small building in the Wilhelminastraat East of

the old Protestant church.

In the later part of the twenties our Lodge moved

to the wooden two story building East of the hew

Protestant church in the Klipstraat. This building

was demolished not long ago. The lodge operated

the upper floor while the ground floor was rented

by the Government as post office.

It was said that when the Lodge was opened for busi ness

meetings or degree work not a soul would venture th rough

the streets surrounding the building in fear that t hey

may be confronted with evil spirits who enter or le ave

the building at that time. In a letter of June 1935 to

W:.Bro:. F.W.P. Winkel f the presiding W:.M:. informs him

that several states in the U.S.A. do not recognize the

Grand Lodge of Holland they are as follows: Arizona ,

Colorado, Montana, Wisconsin, New Hampshire,

Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Mississippi.

Furthermore that after January 1st, 1935, Nebraska would

also no longer recognize Grand Lodge of Holland. In 1936

there was mention to sell the two story building be cause

it was deteriorating and rotting away. It was estim ated

that it would cost approximately Af.1.000,= to rest ore

it, which the Lodge did not have at that time.

In those days, according to the minutes you could r ead

the results of the balloting for candidates, Mr. Mo unt

rejected, nine (9) whites and seven (7) blacks. Mr

Freeman rejected, eight (8) whites and eight (8) bl acks.

It was a custom in those days to commence with the

business meeting and then go over to the degree wor k.

This is probably because of the rituals which they got

from Igualdad Lodge or the Santo Domingo ritual whi ch

dates back to 1887.

In the minutes op January 13, 1937 it states that

the Lodge intended to send a wedding gift to the

Princess of the Netherlands.

They talked about a jewel box made from a turtle

shell, the corners were to be of gold and in the

shape of the island of Aruba. On the cover would

be encrusted in gold the name of El Sol Naciente.

However, this could not be furnished in time

therefore a telegram was sent to the Princess

and the Queen with congratulations from the

Officers and members of El Sol Naciente.

The collection bag after this meeting amounted

to $ 1,70 and fls. 1,50.

On December 1, 1937 Bro:. Willie Dennert handed

over to our Lodge the English translation of the

Charitable Society.

One year later, on December 1, 1938, during this

stated meeting Bro:. Owen motioned that the

Society be named F.W.P. Winkel Benevolent Society.

The dues were set at fls.1,= per month.

Breth:. Ruts, Owen and J.H. Ponson were appointed

first officers until an official board could be ele cted

A gift of fls. 100,= was proposed for Bro:. Dennert

for his efforts in setting up the society. The by-l aws

were not approved until September 14, 1939 by Gover nor

Wouters. On may 3, 1939 it was decided to sell the

building at Klipstraat for the sum of Fls. 13.000,=

The buyer had deposited a sum of Fls. 8.000,= and t he

balance would be paid by installments. Another stra nge

custom in those days was to place the candidate

between the columns for investigation for higher

wages. After he passed the investigation all the

breth;. Applauded.

August 4, 1939 the Lodge building in Klipstraat was

deeded over to the new owners, there is no mention

who this new owner was. I believe it was Mr. Kalil.

During the stated meeting of September 6, 1939, Bro :.

Brooks suggested to write a letter to the managemen t

of Lago Oil & Transport Co. to allow the Masons, no t

employed by the company, to enter the Lago concessi on

to attend Lodge meetings in the Lago Community High

School auditorium.

On May 21, 1940 all activities were suspended due t o

military restrictions following the invasion of Hol land.

January 6, 1941 the Lodge resumes its activities ag ain in

the Lago Community School, however, under black-out

conditions. All the attributes and paraphernalia ha d to

be brought from Oranjestad in the evening with only a one

inch square portion of the head lights visible, the

remainder of the headlamp was painted blue. After t he

Lodge meeting all was dismantled and taken back to

Oranjestad. On April 30, 1941 the W:M: announces th at

the Grand Master of Holland died in a concentration camp

in Germany. All lodges should be in mourning.

During WW-II the Germans raided all lodge buildings ,

took possession of name-lists and picked up all the

Members and sent them to concentration camps.

Many masons went into hiding. September 3, 1941

plans discussed for a new building estimated at

approx. Af.25.000,=. November 5, 1941 lowest bid

aas between Fls. 24.800,=. and fls.25.400,=.

The Lodge had Fls. 11.500,- in the treasury

and fls.14.000,= had to be raised.

Those poor Breth:. had a hard time, because it

was difficult to hold meetings for fund raisings

due to the blackouts regulations.

It stands recorded in the minutes of a 2 nd meeting

of January 20, 1943 that the labors were suspended

halfway through the ceremony for refreshments,

another one of those strange customs.

On May 18, 1943 the W:.M:. stated that it was

desire of a number of members to change from the

present ritual to that of the Gr. Lodge of New York .

On June 15, 1943 this question was brought up once

again, a brief history of the Gr. Lodge of Holland

and El Sol Naciente was given and the various ritua ls

which have been used since 1930. It was decided

unanimously that the New York ritual should be used ,

and if so, all officers must memorize the ritual.

No books will be allowed in the temple. It was

decided to contact the delegate in Curacao for perm ission.

The answer from the delegate oh July 12, 1943 was t hat

no permit will be granted for so other ritual excep t

the ritual of the Gr. Lodge of Holland.

On July 6, 1944 proposals for a location for the ne w

Lodge building were discussed. El Sol had acquired a

piece of land East of the Aruba Trading garage(form erly:

Aruba Gas Supply). The committee was dealing with

Mrs. Contreras to trade or swap this piece of land

with hers, which was the piece of land where the

old building now stands in Longfellowstraat. There

followed discussions pertaining to the location

of the Lodge. The Americans wanted to build it in

San Nicolas and the Aruban members wanted it in 0ra njestad

Bro:. Dascanio suggested to build it halfway at lea st

and suggested Balashi next to the Spanish Lagoon br idge.

At this moment W:.M:. Mechlin corrected Bro:. Dasca nio

informing him that there were no two groups in El S ol

Naciente, but that they are one body. He informed h im

that during the last meeting it was already decided

that the Lodge shall be built in Oranjestad.

“We americans are not here forever and we do not wa nt

to leave any problem behind such as an inconvenient

location.”

In 1945 El Sol Naciente carried no. 121. The W:.M:.

informed the Breth:. That this was an error and tha t

El Sol does not carry any number neither does any

other Lodge under the Gr. East of Holland.

On January 17, 1946 a tentative date was set for la ying

the cornerstone for the building in Longfellowstraa t.

This date was February 17 at 3:00 ph. During this

period El Sol had approx. 167 members. October 31, 1946

new Lodge at Longfellowstraat consacrated. Altogeth er

there were 47 members and 48 visitors. A total of 2 00

invitations were sent out. The visitors came from t he

U.S.A., Curacao, London, Scotland, Trinidad, Peru,

Ireland, British Guyana, Hawai and South Africa.

During the fifties it was a custom of our Lodge to

have a Past Master's night. This was possible due

to the large amount of Past Masters. This custom

was dropped due to the passing away and departure

of most of the elder members.

On April 5, 1951 there is mention of a square club

( ) which was sponsored in 1950.

September 6, 1951 W:.Br:. Oslin Scholten was appoin ted

Grand Delegate to the Gr. Lodge of Holland for the

island of Aruba. During this same year the Dep.

Delegate of the Gr. East, W:.Bro:. Winkel, visited

Aruba and during the stated meeting he was question ed

about the number of our Lodge. W:.Bro:. Winkel stat ed

that El Sol carries no 113, but we do not use them.

During a meeting in February 1953 El Sol was in fav or

of the request from the Gr. East, for donations for

the victims of the flood in Holland.

*the amount of: Fls.2.952,76 was collected and sent to

the Gr. East.

*ninety-two pound sterling and eighteen pence (92,1 8)

to the benevolent funds institute of London and

*Fls 1.000,= to the Neth. Relief funds on the islan d.

The records show that the Winkel Charitable Society

meetings were held immediately after the business

meetings. In the executive meeting of July 8, 1954

Our lodge adopts the new Grand East translated

rituals. During this year we received a visit of th e

Grand Master of Holland R:.W:.Bro:. Davidson. He wa s

questioned about the order of Eastern Star. He repl ied

that he does not approve nor disapproves it. On Apr il

3, 1958 W:. Bro:.L.J.M. Henriquez our first W:.M:. and

charter member receives his honorary certificate.

On June 5th, 1958 we received a letter from our rep re-

sentative in Holland Bro:. P.C. Woudsma, that he ha s

proposed W:.Bro:. Wil Snoek as the third representa -

tive of our lodge to the Grand East of Holland. Dur ing

this meeting was also mentioned a letter from the

delegate in Curacao requesting information about th e

"sunlight social club" of proposed Freemasons. Furt her

was mentioned the progress of the committee for the

annual harvest dance and a word of congratulations to

the Masonic wives for the splendid banquet of st.

John's day.

The harvest dance takes place in the month of Octob er.

They also commented that in the list of Lodges we a re

now recognized by 44 states in the U.S.A. in a meet ing

of September 4, 1958 stands recorded that permissio n

was requested to start lodge Phoenix in Curacao wit h 15

members initiated in Hiram 102. Comparing the cost per

grave today it is interesting to know that in 1960 the

cost was Fls. 180,=. today it is well over FLs.1200 ,=

In January 1959 our Lodge received a letter from th e

delegate of the Grand East concerning changes in th e

Masonic Passport and that they are mandatory. In th is

same meeting the W:.M:. expressed words of apprecia tion

for the paint job and additional furniture from the

Eastern Star Chapter. The records of 1962 - 1963 sh ow

that from 167 members in 1946 this dropped to 134. This

was the beginning of the exodus of the Americans, w hen

Lago started with the tremendous lay-off program. B y

July 1968 our lodge remained with 26 members of whi ch 8

attended meetings. This brought with it a frustrati ng

situation for all three lodges on the island. Durin g

extraordinary meetings members of our sister Lodge and

visiting Lodge had to fill in some of the stations to

perform ceremonies. During this same period on July 4,

1968 a motion was carried to sell the building in L ong-

fellowstraat. The building was in a very bad shape and

the lodge owed the Aruba Bank Fls. 6.000,= and with 26

members it could not possibly maintain the building let

stand the extensive repairs required at that time. On

July 8, 1969 an inventory list was received from

W:.Bro:. Art Krottnauer covering our Masonic paraph er-

nalia. On March 16, 1971 the building in J.G. Emans traat

39 was estimated at Fls. 154.000,= the lodges offer ed

Fls.100.000,= and finally bought it for Fls.102.500 ,=.

On September 30, 1976 - proposal to start a De Mola y

Chapter. A very unique situation I almost forgot. O n

March 28, 1955 the central Government requested the

opinion of El Sol Naciente concerning the abolishin g of

the death penalty in the Neth. Ant. On july 17, 197 1 the

board of El Sol Naciente got together with the boar d of

Hiram Lodge to discuss the use and rent of Hiram Lo dge.

The rent was set at Fls. 75,= per month. Browsing b ack

through the minutes to see if nothing was left out, we

find mentioned in the minutes of November 2, 1967 t hat

during the visit of the Grand Master, most R:.W:.Br o:.

Jan Kok. He promised that he was pretty sure that w hen

or if approached he would be able to work out a one time

donation from Grand Lodge in the amount of three to four

thousand guilders.

In August 1975 we were still working in Hiram lodge .

During this meeting we were informed that we finall y

got the key to the building in J.G. Emanstraat 39 a nd

that the building would be vacant within 10 days. O n

September 3, 1975 the covering of the top floor sta rted.

On February 14, 1976 was set to move the parapherna lia

from the old building to the new one.

Our first meeting was held in the new building in t he

banquet hall on March 17, 1976.

On October 13, 1990 we received the sad news from H olland

that our representative to the Grand East had laid down his

working tools and passed to the Eternal East. As I

mentioned before, on June 1958 he was proposed to t he Grand

East as our representative thus serving our Lodge i n this

position for 32 years. In addition to this he was a lso an

honorary member of our Lodge.

The oldest Bro. Of our lodge still living is our W: .Bro:.

Art Krottnauer, who was initiated in march 1932 and re-

siding in the U.S.A.

My Breth:. the remainder of the years not mentioned in

this resume tonight have yet to become history. It will

be the task of the younger Breth:. To see to it tha t all

records are maintained in perfect order and to upda te

this report for posterity. W:.M:. this was a conden sed

form of the history of El Sol Naciente no.113 for t he

past 80 years.

researched and compiled by: p.j. beaujon.