About Orange Valley Lodge 13
Mercantile Hall was built by David Stokes along with other Black investors and opened its doors in 1905. David Stokes and Aaron Wiley ran the Stokes and Wiley Grocery Store on the first floor. According to The Colored Citizen newspaper, "This was the biggest enterprise undertaken by the colored people of Riverside." Additionally, David Stokes was a Master Mason and member of Orange Valley Lodge #13, which served as a means for members of the Prince Hall Free & Accepted Masons of the Masonic Order to circumvent restrictions in white fraternities.
The building served as a hub for various groups which hosted Filipino dances in the 1920’s, labor union meetings in the 1930’s, and members of the Latino community.
In 1965, the lodge opened its Freedom School as a response to segregation and its negative impacts on Black students. It served as a convening space for organizing throughout the civil rights movement.
On March 11, 2024, the City of Riverside received a request by the Riverside Housing Development Corporation on behalf of Orange Valley Lodge #13 as a City Landmark and amended the zoning code map that In 2025, Orange Valley Lodge #13 was designated as a Historical Landmark by the Riverside City Council making the first African American organization in the Tri-County area with that designation.
Today, the lodge continues to be active by holding community events, meetings, and other activities that enriches the lives of members and guests of the lodge. Members of the lodge have also provided food for the unhoused community members for over 40 years. It's legacy is considered a significant site in Riverside's Black History.
Our Mission
The purpose of Prince Hall Freemasonry is to help good men become better ones. This is accomplished through mutual support, instruction which is often in the form of time honored traditions, and by working collaboratively with others to make our community a better place for all society.
Prince Hall Masonry teaches the importance of helping the less fortunate. It especially stresses care for the widows and orphans of Masons.The fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons has members from every ethnic group and every continent in the world. Brotherhood is a primary teaching of Masonry–that each person must be judged as an individual, on his own merits, and that such factors as race, national origin, religious creed, social status, or wealth are incidental to the person’s character.