Founded in 1870, this is Houston's second oldest Masonic Lodge. On May 11, 1870, twenty-two Master Masons, in response to the growth in Houston's population, signed a petition requesting a charter for a new lodge from the Grand Lodge of Texas. Gray Lodge No. 329 was constituted in the hall of Houston's first Masonic Lodge, Holland Lodge No. 1. The lodge was named for William Fairfax Gray, who was in Texas as a land agent and attended the Convention at Washington-on-the-Brazos in 1836 when Texas declared independence from Mexico. Gray moved his family from Virginia to Houston in 1837. He was by profession an attorney, and served as clerk of the Republic of Texas House of Representatives and the Senate in 1837 and 1838.