10/02/2026
PENNSYLVANIA KNIGHTS TEMPLAR — FUN FACTS
⚔️ PENNSYLVANIA TEMPLARY PREDATES THE NATIONAL GRAND ENCAMPMENT
Organized Masonic Templar activity in Pennsylvania dates to the 1790s. The Grand Commandery of Pennsylvania was organized in 1797, nearly two decades before the national Grand Encampment was established in 1816.
⚔️ PHILADELPHIA WAS AN EARLY CENTER OF AMERICAN TEMPLARY
By the end of the 18th century, Templar Encampments were operating in Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Carlisle, making Pennsylvania one of the earliest centers of organized Masonic Templary in America.
⚔️ PENNSYLVANIA AND THE NATIONAL ORGANIZATION DIDN'T ALWAYS AGREE
During the formative meetings of 1816, Pennsylvania representatives disagreed with New England representatives over organizational authority and aspects of the Masonic system. The resulting national organization developed separately from Pennsylvania's existing structure.
⚔️ ST. JOHN'S COMMANDERY NO. 4 HAS BEEN AROUND FOR MORE THAN 200 YEARS
St. John's Commandery No. 4 of Philadelphia was chartered in 1819 and describes itself as the oldest continuously existing Knights Templar Commandery in the United States.
⚔️ TEMPLARS RECEIVE ORDERS, NOT DEGREES
Pennsylvania Commandery confers three principal Orders:
Order of the Red Cross
Order of Malta
Order of the Temple
The Order of the Temple is the culminating Order in which the candidate becomes a Knight Templar.
⚔️ PENNSYLVANIA DEVELOPED A LARGE COMMANDERY SYSTEM
By 1928, 99 Commanderies had been established in Pennsylvania, illustrating just how large Templary became during the organization's late-19th- and early-20th-century expansion.
⚔️ YORK COMMANDERY NO. 21 DATES TO 1865
York Commandery No. 21 traces its history to 1865. Its centennial history was published in 1965, documenting its first century of Templar activity in York, Pennsylvania.
⚔️ PENNSYLVANIA TEMPLARY HAS ITS OWN DISTINCTIVE TRADITIONS
Pennsylvania preserved organizational, ritual, uniform and drill traditions that were not necessarily identical to practices elsewhere in American Templary. That history helps explain why old Pennsylvania Templar manuals and regulations can differ noticeably from those of other jurisdictions.
