Several members have served the office of the Mayor of Baton Rouge in unique ways. When the title of the Mayor was changed to that of Mayor–President of East Baton Rouge Parish in 1944, Powers Higginbotham, a member of the Lodge, was the first Mayor–President to grace that office. Wade H. Bynum, who served as Mayor for twenty–eight years, holds the record for the longest period of service in that capacity. Jesse L. Webb, Jr., who was elected Mayor–President in 1952 at the age of twenty–nine, is the youngest person ever elected to that office. When Bro. Webb met with premature death in April 1956, his wife was appointed to serve his unexpired term in office.

James Harrison Dakin, the architect of the Old State Capitol, was another illustrious member of St. James Lodge. Born in New York in 1806, he came to New Orleans, and became a distinguished architect by 1835. With his brother Charles, also an architect, he formed the partnership of Dakin & Dakin and designed many buildings in New Orleans, including the Custom House, and earned the reputation as one of the top Greek Revival architects in the South. A colonel of a militia regiment called the Louisiana Volunteers, he went to the Mexican War in 1845. Upon winning a competition for the job of designing the Old State Capitol, he moved to Baton Rouge and petitioned St. James Lodge on January 5, 1848. The Capitol was completed in March 1852. For his work on the Capitol, he was paid $250.00 per month. After a brief illness, Col. Dakin died on May 13, 1852. Brother Dakin attended Lodge meetings regularly and the minute book reveals that he was very active in all Lodge business. He served on many committees and attended Masonic funerals inspite of the heavy work load of the capitol. Thomas Bangs Thorpe (1815–1876), nationally known as a painter, writer, politician and newspaper editor, was a member of St. James Lodge. Born in Massachusetts, he moved to Louisiana in 1837. He is remembered today in American literature among the humorists and realists of the old South–West. His paintings, exhibited for the first time in 1833 at the American Academy of Fine Arts in New York, received good reviews. He was reputed to be a keen observer of his times and his period of greatest activity came during the 1840’s and 50’s. Bro. Thorpe was Raised on December 8, 1849. The minutes of that meeting state, on motion of Bro. A. Adama, it was unanimously resolved that Bro. T. B. Thorpe’s fees for the degrees of this Lodge be remitted on account of his losses at the late fire." A major fire had broken out in Baton Rouge earlier that year. He was elected Junior Deacon of the Lodge in 1851. Another member, Preston W. Farrar, who died in March 1850, was described by The Weekly Gazette as a gentle man of high attainments as a scholar, of polished manners and of irreproachable honor and integrity," and had distinguished himself in public life by serving several terms as Speaker of the House of Representatives. The Baton Rouge Gazette of March 9, 1850, reporting on his death wrote, In the death of Mr. Farrar, the State has lost one of its most valuable and useful citizens. As Speaker of the House of Representatives he was esteemed and respected by its members for the dignified, efficient and impartial manner in which he discharged the duties of that elevated position."

The minutes of May 8, 1850 reveal that Bro. James H. Dakin had voluntarily acted as the nurse and attendant at Bro. Farran’s bed side during his illness.

James L. Lobdell was another distinguished member. He demitted from the Lodge in 1871 to start Blazing Star Lodge in Port Allen, and became Grand Master of Louisiana in 1883 and 1884. A successful planter, he died in 1886, while serving a second term as the Registrar of Lands. That his death led Governor McEnery to close all state offices for one day is high tribute to his standing in the community and the value of his service to the state. His cousin, John L. Lobdell, was one of the signers of the original petition of St. James Lodge.

At least five members of St. James Lodge took an active part in the formation of the Louisiana Historical Society in 1859. George A. Pike was its first secretary, while Amos Adams and J. W. Seymour, an attorney, Thomas J. Buffington and John H. New were charter members. Bro. Pike was the editor of The Baton Rouge Gazette and Comet and later on was the first editor of The Advocate.

General A. S. Herron, as the first of three generations of Masonic leaders, is a notable member of St. James Lodge. His son–in–law, Charles Cecil Bird, served twice as Master of the Lodge — 1892–93 and again in 1901–02. His grandson, Charles Cecil Bird, Jr., Raised by his father in 1910, went on to serve as Master of the Lodge in 1919. Just three weeks before his death, he was elected to represent the sixth congressional district in the House of Represntatives in the nations’ capital. In 1866 he was elected the Attorney Journal of the state. Upon his death on November 28, 1882, Capitolian Advocate reported, No more will his noble countenance beam with kindness upon his friends, and no more will his words of wise counsel be heard from the rostrum as in the past, when his people needed them in the hour of peril." It went on to add, His life was but a series of acts of unselfish devotion. Looking upon worldly goods as mere dross, he cared only to maintain his spotless good name and to serve his fellow beings and his country, whenever he was called by name," and in social and domestic life, there was no more attractive and delightful man. He was charitable, affectionate and alwayes agreeable in every circle." In this writer’s opinion, the statue on the Confedarate monument, North Boulevard and third street, is that of Gen. Herron.

Col. E. W. Robertson served four terms in the U. S. Congress. After serving in the Mexican War, he raised a company for the Twenty–seventh Louisiana Regiment, C.S.A. During the Civil War, he served nobly in the siege at Vicksburg and later was on the staff of Gen. Ruggies during the battle of Baton Rouge in 1863.

Col. Thomas Duckett Boyd, president of Louisiana State University, became a Master Mason in St. James Lodge in 1907. Bro. Boyd married Annie F. Fuqua, sister of Bro. Henry L. Fuqua, Past Master of the Lodge. Upon his passing, The Advocate described him as a shining example of gentleman and scholar in life," and adds that Colonel Boyd left on history’s pages a record of service and broad constructive work which has bettered the lives of thousands, and opened the gates of opportunity to countless numbers." According to Dr. Edwin L. Stephen, who wrote an article in the Alumni News Letter, Thomas Duckett Boyd comes nearer to being an incarnation of the spirit of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical college than any other living man."

Henry L. Fuqua, one of the speakers at the Masonic Centennial celebrations in 1917 at W. P. Connell’s house, was a Past Master who was appointed General Manager of the State Prison at Angola. He later became Governor of Louisiana in 1924. However, fate did not permit this great man and a great governor, every inch a Governor and every inch a man," to finish his term in office. Bro. Henry L. Fuqua was a devoted Mason and member of the Lodge. He conducted many Masonic funeral services, a few while he was serving as the Governor of the state. These services for his friends and members of the Lodge included Robert B. Day; Sheriff of East Baton Rouge Parish, William Pike Connell, a prominent philanthropist; and Wm. F. Reynaud, Warden of Penitentiary. By 1892, Bro. Fuqua had built Fuqua Hardware ( at the corner of Third and Laurel Street) into one of the largest retail businesses in the area. Upon his passing in 1926 during his first term as governor, The Morning Advocate noted, during his life, his kind heart and wonderful personality endeared him to friends of high and low stations."

John Fred Odom, one of the organizers of the centennial celebrations at Connell’s house, was an attorney specializing in criminal law. He had entered politics under the tutelage of Col. Charles Cecil Bird, another distinguished member of the Lodge. He was District Attorney of East Baton Rouge Parish from 1916–36, and a devoted member of the Lodge. Bro. Odom was a member of the Louisiana State University Board of Supervisors and a member of the Democratic State Central Committee.

The sudden and untimely death of Brother Jared Y. Sanders, Jr. (the originator of the Homburg Hat tradition) in 1960 while he was the Deputy Grand Master of Louisiana, deprived the Fraternity of one of its ablest members. The son of a governor of Louisiana, an attorney and a politician by profession, he was a devoted and dedicated Mason, a civic leader and a Deputy of the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in Louisiana.