According to “Who’s Who in Masonry,” Hardy Murfree (June 5, 1752-April 6, 1809), for whom Murfreesboro was named, was the first to bring a formal Masonic Lodge to Murfreesboro, TN. Murfree, a North Carolina Mason, secured a charter for American George Lodge #17 from the Grand Lodge of NC. Brother Murfree served as its first Master in 1779 and represented this lodge at the Grand Lodge session in NC in 1790. It also reported that the American George Lodge #17 met on what is now the north side of the public square, in a place called the Masonic Room.

    Mount Moriah Lodge #18 was chartered in 1817 and met for the first time on May 26, 1817. It met in the Masonic Room on the north side of the public square until about 1832, when it went inactive, as a result of public enmity towards Freemasonry. Once the problem subsided, the lodge reorganized in 1840 and met in a room on the northwest corner of the public square. The lodge then moved to a room on the third floor of a building on the west side of the public square where the room and its contents (the charter, jewels, and part of the records of Mount Moriah Lodge #18 and Murfreesboro Lodge #205) were destroyed by fire. The lodge then moved to a room on the east side of the public square and received a new charter that united both lodges into a new Mount Moriah Lodge #18. The lodge was suspended again  due to the Civil War, but soon after reorganized.

    Today, Mount Moriah Lodge #18 is located at the corner of S.E. Broad Street and Middle Tennessee Boulevard and has over 400 members.