It was founded under the jurisdiction of the Grand Orient de France, so in the wake of the schism of 1894 over whether belief in the “Supreme Being” should be a prequisite for membership of the freemasons, a rival masonic lodge known as the Les Fervents du progrès (Devotees of progress) was set up at 116 rue Mac-Mahon (Nam Kỳ Khởi Nghĩa), affiliated to the newly-established Grande Loge de France.
Perhaps due to lack of funding, the breakaway lodge Les Fervents du progrès continued in existence only until 1913, when it was merged with Le Réveil de l'Orient. Thereafter a single masonic lodge functioned at 32 rue Taberd until the departure of the French.
Today, the old lodge building houses the Hồ Chí Minh City office of the Công An (Police) Newspaper.
Tim Doling is the author of The Railways and Tramways of Việt Nam (White Lotus Press, 2012) and the forthcoming book of walking tours entitled Exploring Hồ Chí Minh City (Nhà Xuất Bản Thế Giới, Hà Nội, 2014) and also conducts 4-hour Heritage Tours of Historic Saigon and Cholon. For more information about
