Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks

Grand Lodge in Chicago, Illinois

The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks had modest beginnings in 1868 as a social club (then called the "Jolly Corks") established as a private club to elude New York City laws governing the opening hours of public taverns. Early members were members of theatrical performing troupes in New York City. It has since evolved into a major American fraternal, charitable, and service order with more than a million members, both men and women, throughout the United States. Current members are required to be U.S. citizens over the age of 21 and believe in God. Image File history File links Elkb. ... Image File history File links Elkb. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2304 × 1728 pixel, file size: 872 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Grand Lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2304 × 1728 pixel, file size: 872 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Grand Lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. ... Media:Example. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... A fraternal organization, sometimes also known as a fraternity, is an organization that represents the relationship between its members as akin to brotherhood. ... United States citizenship is membership of the United States political system. ... This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ...

Deceased and otherwise absent lodge members are recalled each evening at 11 p.m. when the lodge esquire intones, "It is the Hour of Recollection." The exalted ruler or a member designated by him gives the 11 o'clock toast, of which this version is the most common:

"You have heard the tolling of eleven strokes. This is to remind you that with Elks, the hour of eleven has a tender significance. Wherever Elks may roam, whatever their lot in life may be, when this hour tolls upon the dial of night, the great heart of Elkdom swells and throbs. It is the golden hour of recollection, the homecoming of those who wander, the mystic roll call of those who will come no more. Living or dead, an Elk is never forgotten, never forsaken. Morning and noon may pass him by, the light of day sink heedlessly into the west. But ere the shadows of midnight shall fall, the chimes of memory shall be pealing forth the friendly message: To our absent members."

Established in 1928, the Elks National Foundation is the charitable arm of the BPOE. The foundation, with an endowment valued at more than $400 million, has contributed $253.5 million toward Elks' charitable projects nationwide.

An interesting physical artifact of the order is the number of communal cemetery plots once favored by the group. Often these are marked with impressive statuary. Castle Ashby Graveyard Northamptonshire A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. ...

The national headquarters, known as the Grand Lodge, is at 2750 N. Lakeview Avenue, Chicago, Ill. Local Elks Lodges, known as subordinate lodges, are located in about 2,100 cities and towns across the United States and its territories (as of 2006).

The local Elks lodges are known by their lodge number and the name of the city in which they are located. For example, the first Lodge, located in New York City, is Lodge 1, while the Lodge in Nashville, TN is Lodge 72. When a Lodge is closed, its number is retired, but if re-instituted at a later time, the city name and lodge number can be reinstated by the Grand Lodge.

A Grand Lodge Convention is held each year in a principal city in the United States. It is at this meeting that delegates from the subordinate lodges vote on the next new Grand Exalted Ruler and conduct other items of business.

Due to the willingness of most Elk Lodges to respond to community needs and events, it is common to turn the BPOE abbreviation into a backronym for "Best People on Earth." ^{[1] [2] [3]} A backronym (or bacronym) is a phrase that is constructed backwards from the phrases abbreviation, the abbreviation being an initialism or acronym. ...

Local Lodge

Chair Officers

• Exalted Ruler
• Esteemed Leading Knight
• Esteemed Loyal Knight
• Esteemed Lecturing Knight

Other Lodge Officers

• Esquire
• Inner Guard
• Secretary
• Treasurer
• Tiler
• Chaplain
• Trustee (5 yr.)
• Trustee (4 yr.)
• Trustee (3 yr.)
• Trustee (2 yr.)
• Trustee (1 yr.)
• Organist
• Justice of the Subordinate Forum

Past Exalted Rulers are not considered officers, but rather a valuable advisory resource. A Lodge's Past Exalted Ruler's Association usually meets monthly, and current officers are encouraged to seek counsel from the men and women who have led Lodges in previous years.

In popular culture

• In The Honeymooners, Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton are members of the Raccoon Lodge and in one episode they are both candidates to be voted the Raccoons' "Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler". This is likely a parody of the Elks and the Shriners as well as The Mikado.
• In The Flintstones, which takes much of its inspiration from The Honeymooners, Fred belongs to the Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes Lodge No. 26 with a "Grand Pooh-bah".
• In The Simpsons episode "Homer the Great", Abraham Simpson claims to be a member of the Elks.
• In Stephen King's The Dark Tower, Roland and Susannah come across a skeleton that is wearing a ring that identifies him as an Elk.
• In Scene Nine of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, during the act "Brotherhood of Man", with the lyrics "Now, you may join the Elks, my friend, and I may join the Shriners".
• In Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. Main character Milkman dead proclaims, "If this bath and this woman... are all that come out of this trip, I will rest easy and do my duty to God, country, and the Brotherhood of Elks for the rest of my life." Page 285.
• In Hunter S. Thompson's short 1990 essay "Tarred and Feathered at the Jersey Shore", included in his book Songs of the Doomed, he recalls of his time living in the abandoned coal mining town of Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania: "I had to join the goddamn Elks Club in order to get a drink there on weekends."
• In The West Wing episode "The Women of Qumar", Rob Lowe's character Sam Seaborn mentions that his father was an Elk.
• In Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry David lies about being "a moose and an elk" when trying to get a membership in a Protestant golf club.
• In Take Me Out To The Ball Game, 1948. Frank Sinatra, Esther Williams, Gene Kelly, Betty Garrett.
• It’s strictly USA (reprise) Lyrics and music by Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Roger Edens

"Like the annual Elks convention... ...They're really here to stay; Cause it’s strictly USA." ^[4]

• Frank Barone in Everyone Loves Raymond was a member of the Elks although he left the lodge after being made man of the year.
• In Babbit, by Sinclair Lewis, the main character, George Babbit, is an active member of the Elks.
• Canadian indie rock group The Weakerthans have a song entitled "Psalm for the Elks Lodge Last Call".
• Members of the Elks Lodge are served reinvented American culinary classics in Bravo TV's Top Chef.

The Honeymooners is an American television situation comedy produced by Jackie Gleason Enterprises, Inc. ... The Shriners, A.A.O.N.M.S. or Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, established in New York City in 1870, is an appendant body to Freemasonry. ... The Mikado, or The Town of Titipu, is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations. ... The Flintstones is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. ... The Honeymooners is an American television situation comedy produced by Jackie Gleason Enterprises, Inc. ... Simpsons redirects here. ... Homer the Great is the 12th episode of The Simpsons’ sixth season. ... Abraham Abe Grampa J. Simpson is a fictional character featured in the animated cartoon television series The Simpsons, voiced by Dan Castellaneta. ... Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of over 200 stories including over 50 bestselling horror novels. ... The Dark Tower is the seventh and final book of novelist Stephen Kings Dark Tower series, published September 21, 2004 (Kings birthday) by Donald M. Grant Publishers, and illustrated by Michael Whelan. ... How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying was a 1961 musical, initially running for 1,417 performances. ... For the Louisiana politician, see deLesseps Morrison, Jr. ... Hunter Stockton Thompson (July 18, 1937 – February 20, 2005) was an American journalist and author. ... Gonzo Papers, Vol. ... Surface coal mining in Wyoming. ... Jersey Shore is a borough located in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. ... The West Wing is an American television serial drama created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast from 1999 to 2006. ... The Women of Qumar is the 52nd episode of The West Wing. ... Robert Hepler Lowe (born March 17, 1964) is an American actor. ... Samuel Norman Sam Seaborn is a fictional character played by Rob Lowe on the television serial drama The West Wing. ... This section has been identified as trivia. ... Larry David Larry David (born July 2, 1947) is an Emmy-winning actor, writer, comedian, producer and film director born and raised in the Sheepshead Bay section of Brooklyn, New York. ... Frank Barone is a fictional character from the American TV sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond. ... Everybody Loves Raymond is an American sitcom originally broadcast on CBS from 1996 to 2005. ... babbitt metal plain bearing shells Babbitt metal, also called white metal, is an alloy used to provide the bearing surface in a plain bearing. ... The Weakerthans are a four-piece (and sometimes six-piece[1]) Canadian indie rock band that blends punk-inflected folk rock with award-winning,[2] literate, introspective lyrics. ... Top Chef is an American reality competition show airing on the Bravo cable television network in which chefs compete against each other in weekly challenges. ...

References

See also

• Army of Hope

The Army of Hope is a North American charitable organization focused on the needs of migrant farm workers and their families, and affiliated with the Elks fraternal organization. ...

External links

• elks.org, the official website