Ladies and gentlemen, as we examine 200 years of Freemasonry in Highland County, let’s take a look at the venerable Masonic Temple located on the corner of North High Street and Beech Street in uptown Hillsboro.

Ladies and gentlemen, in our confabulation last week, we spoke of the first meeting of Highland Lodge No. 38 of Free and Accepted Masons in 1817 and left off with how the Lodge nearly folded due to the great Anti-Masonic agitation that rose up in America less than a decade after the Lodge received its charter 200 years ago.

Ladies and gentlemen, as we mentioned earlier, the first meeting of Highland Lodge No. 38 of Free and Accepted Masons was held in Hillsboro in March of 1817 – March 3 of that year, to be exact.

The first meeting of Highland Lodge No. 38 was held in Hillsboro on March 3, 1817. Yes, that was more than 200 years ago – the lodge received its dispensation in the 1817, but didn’t receive its charter until 1819, so it was decided at the state level that this year, 2019, would be the year the lodge would celebrate its bicentennial with a Reconsecration Ceremony by the Grand Lodge of Ohio.

Our good friend and Highland County Historical Society founding member Bob Hodson just this week provided me with some more fascinating information about the manufacturing company. Mr. Hodson at one time was a minority partner of the C.S. Bell Co. and shared some background on the company and C.S. Bell himself that I would like to share with you.

Linda hasn’t been the only one who has reached out with great information on the C.S. Bell Co. and the bells the company produced for generations. Quite a few have shared some really fascinating odds and ends on the company that was a mainstay in Highland County, and we’ll share those particulars in the very near future (and if you have any stories, please drop me a line), but let’s pause for now, and we’ll continue next week.

Ladies and gentlemen, there is still a C.S. Bell Co. in existence as we’ve mentioned in an earlier confabulation, but the company that’s no longer based in Hillsboro and is now located in Tiffin, Ohio no longer manufactures bells and focuses instead on milling and grinding, conveyors, crushers and recycling. However, there are still C.S. Bell Co. bells that were made right here in Hillsboro all over the world – and even all over the Internet.

Since last week’s offering, I have become the proud owner of my very own C.S. Bell Co. farm bell. When we last spoke, our confabulation centered on how a church is incomplete without a bell – this according to a 125-year-old catalog distributed by the C.S. Bell Co. of Hillsboro in 1894.

Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve rung in another New Year, and on that note, let’s continue for a moment with our look back at the C.S. Bell Co., which was part of the Hillsboro landscape for multiple generations.

Ladies and gentlemen, don’t look now, but another year is about to reach its ineluctable conclusion. Yes, as the clock moves toward the midnight hour on Dec. 31, the year of our Lord 2018 will take its final bow while folks near and far ring in another New Year.

Ladies and gentlemen, when we last confabulated, the palaver made its way to the life and times of Mack Sauer, the nationally known humorist, speaker and radio personality who was a former newspaper editor and publisher.

Ladies and gentlemen, after I penned an offering last week on how the local bar association unanimously recommended vacating and tearing down the venerable Highland County Courthouse in uptown Hillsboro back in 1960, I have been asked multiple times how I stumbled across such an article that was published decades ago. Well, to be totally honest with you, I simply stumbled across that story.

The older generation might remember the old Hillsboro fire station that stood on the corner of West Walnut and South High streets that burned down a long, long time ago. My dad tells me he thinks it happened around 1948 and that Hillsboro made the news because the waterworks facility also burned down the same year.

The older generation might remember the old Hillsboro fire station that stood on the corner of West Walnut and South High streets that burned down a long, long time ago. My dad tells me he thinks it happened around 1948 and that Hillsboro made the news because the waterworks facility also burned down the same year.

Ladies and gentlemen, if they would ever decide to do a “Mount Rushmore” of Highland County journalists, Granville Barrere would have to be up on that mountain.