Edinburg Lodge Started in 1854

On November 9, 1854, sixteen years after the founding of the Grand Lodge of Arkansas, Free and Accepted Masons, Dr. William David Barnett stepped into the East, bringing into being the first Masonic lodge in Cleveland County, Huey Lodge No. 78 of New Edinburg.

The first meeting of Barnett Capter No. 451, Order of Eastern Star, was held at Kingsland Nov. 21, 1922.  The chapter was named for William Hughes Barnett, son of Dr. Barnett.  William Hughes Barnett was initiated into Huey Lodge in 1874.  Two years later he took the lead in bringing the Order of Eastern Star to Cleveland county with the institution of Millard Chapter No. 12, and with his wife Ella Marks Barnett, shared the East.  The Barnett Chapter was moved from Kingsland to Fordyce in 1941.