On April 22, 1844, Master Masons desirous of forming a new lodge in the area met at the sugar house" of James McCalop, a planter. Dempsey D. Cain, also a planter, was appointed secretary for this meeting. The brethren present unanimously agreed to nominate Capt. D. F. Reeder, a mechanic and Royal Arch Mason, as the first Worshipful Master; John L. Lobdell, a planter, attorney and Royal Arch Mason, as the Senior Warden; and Dempsey D. Cain, as the Junior Warden. On April 29, 1844, John T. Nolan, a physician, was appointed secretary, and James McCalop was appointed treasurer. The by–laws of the proposed lodge were to be formulated by J. L. Lobdell. The meeting of May 25 was attended by the elected officers and by J. P. Chapman, an engineer and Past Master. The petition of St. James Lodge to the Grand Lodge of Louisiana for a charter was signed by D. F. Reeder, John L. Lobdell, D. P. Cain, James McCalop, James S. Brunot, J. T. Nolan and J. B. Hereford. It was recommended by M. Morgan, J. P. Chapman, A. H. Simon, and Wm. H. McCaughey. Six of the signers paid $7.00 each to defray the cost of obtaining the charter from the Grand Lodge. This money was later refunded the brethren from the revenues of the Lodge.

On June 8, 1844, the provisional Lodge met again in the sugar house of Bro. McCalop and received two petitions for degrees in Masonry and appointed investigating committees of two members each. This meeting was held in the Entered Apprentice degree, a practice that continued until the 1860’s.

The Warrant of Constitutions" dated June 28, 1844, stating to open and hold a Lodge by number 47, named St. James, in the Parish of West Baton Rouge or within three miles of the same" was presented to the Lodge by the secretary on July 20, 1844, and thus began the brilliant history of a very fine Lodge. This meeting is significant because it is also the first meeting of the Lodge attended by Bro. Amos Adams, an attorney and Past Master, who later in 1859 became the Grand Master in Louisiana. With the initiation of Mr. J. P. Vaughn, a physician, at the meeting of July 27, 1844, the first initiation in St. James Lodge took place. The Lodge continued to operate under the original warrant" until 1989 when Robert L. Buck" Kleinpeter, Past Grand Master, presented the Lodge with its charter. According to the minutes of the Lodge, the first officers installed by a deputation from the Grand Lodge on July 27, 1844 were D. F. Reeder (Worshipful Master); Amos Adams, a visiting brother (Senior Warden); J. P. Chapman (Junior Warden); James McCalop (Treasurer); J. T. Nolan (Secretary); John Huguet, (Tyler); M. Morgan (Senior Deacon); J. W. McCaughey (Junior Deacon) and S. M. Hart (Marshall).

The annual report of the Lodge dated Dec. 31, 1844, sent to the Grand Lodge, shows D. F. Reeder and Amos Adams continuing in their capacities as Worshipful Master and Senior Warden, respectively. Other officers were Samuel M. Hart, Inner (now called Junior) Warden; Daniel Barbee (a warden in the penitentiary), Treasurer; Charles G. McHatton (a lessee in the penitentiary), Secretary; Wm. H. M. McCaughey, Senior Deacon; Joseph G. McCaughey, Inner (now called Junior) Deacon; J. D. Repp (a mechanic), Tyler; and F. M. Hereford, (a physician), Master of Ceremonies.