Freemasonry, in the Dominican Republic, had for its center the National Grand Orient, which possessed the supreme authority and which practiced the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. The Grand Orient was divided into a National Grand Lodge, under which have been fifteen Symbolic Lodges; a sovereign Grand Chapter General, under which are all Chapters; and a Supreme Council, which controlled the Advanced Degrees of the Rite. Santo Domingo was the headquarters of Morin (see further reference to him in this work) in 1763, when he was establishing the Scottish Rite in America.
Following the formation of the Republic of Santo Domingo in 1844, a Grand Orient was established in 1858 by Lodges originally chartered by the Grand Orient of Haiti. A Grand Lodge was organized in 1865 and later in that year there came into being a Supreme Council, the two uniting as a National Grand Orient on January 1, 1866.
the source: Mackey’s Encyclopedia of Freemasonry
