Lodge 500 was constituted in Balbriggan, in the north of County Dublin, on 2nd March 1809, and the warrant was issued to Brothers William McKay, Thomas Humphreys and Frederick James McKay, with Bro. William McKay as the first Master. A warrant numbered 500 had been issued, regularly or otherwise, in 1773 but that lodge had become extinct. The minute books from 1809 to 1868 were lost, but it is known that in 1845, the Lodge removed to Dublin, probably because most of its members were residing in the neighbourhood of the city of Dublin. It met at the Masonic Rooms, Commercial Buildings, Dame Street from 1845 to 1869, at which time work was completed on the present Freemasons' Hall in Molesworth Street. The 20 Lodges in the Metropolitan district all moved to Freemasons' Hall, a situation that persists to the present day with the single exception of Lodge No. 261 which meets in Dalkey Town. Membership of the Lodge fluctuated widely during its history. In the years from its constitution up to its move to Dublin, 81 candidates were received: from then until 1860, a further 78 were admitted: 121 during the years 1860 to 1885; and 79 from that date until 1913. As one of the oldest lodges in the Metropolitan District, Lodge 500 has retained the right to meet in the Grand Lodge Room and to defeat any attempt to give it a name (despite a number of such attempts: 'Crimson Lodge' in 1834; 'Balbriggan (or Balbriggen) Lodge' in 1845; and 'Eblana Lodge' in 1856). The Lodge badge incorporates the Hexalpha, or Star of David, a symbol more usually associated with a different branch of Freemasonry. Like many other Lodges up to the year 1874, it elected its officers for a term of only six months. the Lodge Working incorporates a minor, but long-standing variation in the Deacons' movements during Degrees, a variation disapproved (but not outlawed by the Grand Lodge of Instruction. The Lodge motto, taken from the 1867 edition of the bye-laws, is 'Tuta Silentio Merces' or 'There is a safe refuge in silence'.