The best-known tenant of the Norcross Masonic building was likely the Swan Theater, a first floor movie theater run in the 1950s by Ray and Estelle Ziebell, who died in 1958.
By Gene Ramsay
NORCROSS, Ga. | The venerable Norcross Masonic Lodge, No. 228 of the Free and Accepted Masons, third oldest lodge in Gwinnett, faced with an aging membership and a building that needed repairs, has disbanded. It sold its building on South Peachtree Street in 2022.
Ramsey
The Masonic Order, a fraternal organization, traces its roots back at least to the 1300s. It has several million members around the world today, organized into lodges in various locations. James Oglethorpe, who came from Great Britain to establish the Georgia colony in 1733, was a member of the order. Early settlers wanted to continue their masonic activities, and as such, the Solomon Lodge in Savannah, the first lodge in Georgia, was founded in 1734. As settlers moved to the interior of Georgia more local lodges were established. By 1859 there were over 200 active lodges in the state.
The Lawrenceville lodge, the first in Gwinnett County, was founded in 1850, and it was followed by the Yellow River Lodge in southwestern Gwinnett, founded in 1858. The first meeting of the Yellow River lodge had 24 members by the end of their first year. D. P. McDaniel was the first Worshipful Master of the lodge (the head of the local lodge).
The red-brick two story building on South Peachtree Street was the home of the Lodge 228 of the Free and Accepted Masons since early in the city’s history.
The town of Norcross, founded in 1870 with the coming of the railroad, quickly became a center of commerce and education in southwestern Gwinnett. Several organizations active in the area prior to 1870 moved to Norcross to take advantage of its better access to transportation. The Yellow River Lodge moved its meeting in the new town, as did the nearby Methodist and Presbyterian churches that predated the town. Early on these organizations (along with a school and a newly-formed Baptist church) met in a two story wooden building constructed by community members on Church Street.
The Masonic lodge purchased the second floor of the building for their activities in 1871, and met there until 1907, when they sold their interest in the community building.
In the early 1900s members wanted a new facility, and this was accomplished when in 1909 the Masons moved to a new two-story brick building in the center of downtown Norcross, jointly owned by the members of the lodge. This building was designed to accommodate commercial activities downstairs and Masonic activities upstairs. A few years after it was completed, the Masons sold the first floor of the building to a local businessman. Over the 20th century, it attracted a number of tenants, including the local library, the offices of the City of Norcross and a retail store operated by local resident Gene Davenport.
The best-known tenant of the building was likely the Swan Theater, a movie theater run in the 1950s by Ray and Estelle Ziebell and occupied the first floor. After 1958, Swan Theater saw a decline in its business (because in part, no doubt, to national trends of that day – the growing popularity of television and the automobile). Eventually the theater closed and the Lodge purchased the first floor back from its then-owner in the 1960s and used it for lodge dinners and other social activities, and for the community breakfasts that the lodge staged several times per year.
This continued until the early 21st century. By then the lodge was faced with challenging future demographics, and an older membership, and voted to disband and sell the building.
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