Officially, the Freemasons are the oldest and largest fraternal order in the world. Unofficially? That’s more complicated…
The earliest origins of the Freemasons are shrouded in mystery, but it’s believed that the fraternity began during the Middle Ages. The group was originally a stonemason’s guild (hence the name Masons), but soon the Guild became less about stone laying and more about secret meetings. It appears the result of the meetings was to decide not charge for their work causing them to be known as Freemasons.
In 1717, four Masonic lodges formed the first Grand Lodge in England and started to keep more complete records of the fraternity’s history. From there, the fraternity spread throughout the world and included branches across Europe and the Americas. Today, there are upwards of 6 million Freemasons all over the world, with some 1 million in North America alone. While retaining the word Free in their name, they have made one major change in their charter.
They now charge union scale for their work. Everything else is secret.