Bellville Masonic Lodge #376 Lodge History

The original Bellville Masonic Lodge was located at the coroner of West Ogle Street and Main Street. Unfortunately a fire burned the building in 1908. The current building was built and completed in 1909. Much of the lodges records were lost. 

 WM Hildreth was born April 20, 1800, came to Ohio about 1821 from his home near Lake Otsego, New York, and obtained employment at the distillery of Slocum and Palmer in what is now Ashland.  Had a disease known as stribismus (cross eyed), which totally afflicted one eye - and made the other almost useless.   He moved to Lebanon, Ohio to practice medicine, and while living there received his Masonic degrees -- being elected Junior Warden on May 21, 1831.  He later left Lebanon and came to Mansfield, where he lived a short time, before moving to Bellville, where he continued his practice of medicine and also took up the study of law.  Eventually, he gave up the practice of medicine and was admitted to the bar, and again moved to Mansfield in 1841 and began his law practice.  

Bellville Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star was chartered in the 1990's . It merged with Ruth Chapter in Mansfield in  1990's  

By mid-November 1950, U.S. and Allied forces had advanced to within approximately sixty miles of the Yalu River, the border between North Korea and China. On November 25, approximately 300,000 Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) "volunteers" suddenly and fiercely counterattacked after crossing the Yalu. The 2nd Infantry Division, located the farthest north of units at the Chongchon River, could not halt the CCF advance and was ordered to withdraw to defensive positions at Sunchon in the South Pyongan province of North Korea. As the division pulled back from Kunu-ri toward Sunchon, it conducted an intense rearguard action while fighting to break through well-defended roadblocks set up by CCF infiltrators. The withdrawal was not complete until December 1, and the 2nd Infantry Division suffered extremely heavy casualties in the process.

Master Sergeant Howard Wilson Young, who joined the U.S. Army from Ohio, served with the Headquarters Battery, 38th Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. On November 30, 1950, his unit fought through a series of enemy roadblocks en route to Sunchon. In the process, MSG Young was captured. He was marched to a temporary holding center in the Pukchin Tarigol Valley where he died of malnutrition on an unspecified date in February or March 1951. No burial information is available, and his remains were not identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the war. Today, Master Sergeant Young is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also inscribed on the Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC, which was updated in 2022 to include the names of the fallen.

David Angle 1959-2019

Illustrious 33 Degree

Michael D. Cecil 1950-2021

Illustrious 33 Degree

Past District Deputy Grand Master

Paul L. Frontz 1934-2022

Past District Deputy Grand Master

William K. Reed 1938-

Illustrious 33 Degree

Past President 20th Masonic District Assoc.

Alvin L. Smith 1947-2024

District Deputy Grand Master

Knight York Cross of Honor