If these old walls could talk, imagine the grand stories they would tell. The Old Masonic Lodge building -- Georgetown's iconic landmark building -- has presided over 108 years of Georgetown history. Built in 1900, it predates even the Georgetown courthouse across the street. The building has been a favored location for events and meetings for much of Georgetown's life, and is home today to Romeo's Italiano Ristorante, one of Georgetown's favorite restaurants, the Belford Room, and professional offices. With it's unique outdoor balcony overlooking the courthouse Square and daily live piano music, we have been told the building is getting the reputation as Georgetown's favoriate place to propose marriage! This a distinction in which we take great pride! It's nice to know, in our era of rapid growth and seismic change, that some things endure to remind of us of who we are and where we came from.

The Belford Room is named for the Belford Lumber Company, who originally built the building. The story goes that only the outer walls were in place when the famous Galveston Hurricane of 1900 blew in to Georgetown. After utterlly destroying the City of Galvestion, the Category 4 hurricane blew in with winds of 135 miles an hour -- many residents were sure that the building would fall. When it didn't, Belford emerged with the reputation for building very strong buildings. Today, many of Georgetown's finer historic homes and buildings boast the Belford pedigree. With its rusticated limestone walls, soaring arches and distinctive onion dome, the building today is as strong as ever.

And it has seen it all. It once overlooked the frontier town of Georgetown and the great cattle drives along the Chisholm Trail. It was around when horses and carriages were commonplace and then when the automobile made its debut. For 82 years, the San Gabriel Masons hosted their meetings on the third floor. There was even a gun fight that erupted on the street below, back when the building also housed Georgetown's first post office.

The Old Masonic Lodge withstood a second storm in 1920 that knocked down the building's first onion dome spire. Atleast that's one version of the story. The other is that the copper dome was purposefully removed during the "war fever" years leading up to the First World War, when communities melted down many of their metal assets as contributions to the war effort. At any rate, the dome was not replaced until 1986 when the building received it's first round of major renovations. The replacement dome is made of zinc, and is considerably lighter than the original copper. The building received a second round of major renovation in 2003 when the bar, balcony and elevator were installed by it's current owners.

Over the past 108 years, the Old Masonic Lodge building has been home to a post office, a drug store, a furniture store, a Chinese food restaurant, an American bistro, an Italian restaurant, attorneys, doctors, architects, marketers, artists and sundry other professionals.

Looking for a memorable location for your next meeting or event? Then please consider the Belford Room in the Old Masonic Lodge building. Ideal for meetings, banquets, conferences, reunions, lectures, parties, and receptions.

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