Housed in one of Quincy’s most storied brick buildings, the Gadsden Historical Society is the guardian of Gadsden County’s rich and layered past. The building was constructed between 1852 and 1854 by prominent Gadsden County builder Charles Waller, replacing an earlier wood-frame structure that had served Washington Lodge No. 2 of the Free and Accepted Masons since 1832 — one of Florida’s very first Masonic lodges.

For over half a century, the Washington Lodge hall served as a center of community life in Quincy. In 1922, the Lodge relocated and this original structure became home first to the Quincy Woman’s Club and eventually to the Gadsden Historical Society. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

Today, the Gadsden Historical Society preserves and shares the compelling story of one of Florida’s oldest and most historically significant counties — from its colonial roots and shade tobacco heritage to the Civil War, the extraordinary Coca-Cola investor fortunes that made Quincy one of the wealthiest cities per capita in the United States, and the county’s evolving cultural legacy.