Organized October 6, 1888, With Twenty-Three Members, Now Has 480.
OCCUPIES HOME OF ITS OWN ON TWELFTH STREET
Following is the fourth in a series of articles on the history of Altoona Societies:
Few Altoona people know that the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, which is now one of the strongest and one of the most influential lodges in the city of Altoona, started with only twenty- three members and by the end of ten years had only about eighty. This lodge, which now has 480 members and which owns one of the handsomest lodge homes in this section of the state, was founded in Altoona on October 6, 1888, with the following twenty-three gentlemen as charter members: W. C. Westfall, H. E. Ferguson, Jacob S. Stier, H. J. White, W. J. Hamor, W. S. Jackson, H. W. Dunham, C. L. Miller, C. W. Kerlin, A. P. Sharp, William Eberhart, E. A. Bolmer, J. A. Neff, I. C. Mishler, C. E. Wilbar, W. L. Baker, C. T. Weiss, Frederick Horst, H. J. Lape, J. V. Westfall, Jacob Stauffer, Thomas Baltzell and William Plack.
The organization meeting was held in the Stehle block, and was followed by a banquet in the Brant house. District Deputy M. B. Lemon, of Pittsburg, assisted by a number of officers from the Pittsburg lodge, formally instituted the local lodge, Altoona No. 102, and the following local officers were elected: Exalted ruler, C. L. Miller; esteemed leading knight, J. S. Stier; esteemed loyal knight, W. C. Westfall; esteemed lecturing knight, H. J. White; secretary, W. S. Jackson; treasurer, Thomas Baltzell; tiler, W. J. Hamor; trustees, H. E. Ferguson, William Plack and I. C. Mishler.
The Elks' order was founded early In the winter of 1867-68. Charles Algernon Sidney Vivian, the son or an English clergyman, who had been a comic singer in England, landed in New York in the fall of 1867. He went to the Star hotel. where a gentleman named Richard Steirly, a pianist. was playing for some people who were singing. Vivian volunteered to sing and made a decidedly good Impression. A theatrical manager was sent for and the singer was engaged for a week in the American theatre. Steirly invited Vivian to take his Sunday dinner at the American's boarding house, and Vivian remained at the place permanently. Vivian and his new friends were in the habit of spending their Sunday afternoons in the boarding house parlors in social divertisement, and he suggested that they make the association permanent. They did, and called themselves the Jolly Corks. The new order was destined to a great future, however, and on Sunday, February 16. 1868, the name was changed to the Elks. As the elk, the animal, is distinguished for fleetness of foot and timidity at wrong doing, the new order had reason to consider itself well-named. From the few actors, pianists, etc., that made up the first lodge, the order has grown until it now has a total strength of 359,677 members. That the society is now making enormous strides is shown by the fact that from April 1, 1910, until April 1. 1911, there were 49,670 members admitted.
There are thirty-three lodges with a membership of over 1,000, the five biggest in the country being as follows: Brooklyn, New York, Detroit, New Orleans and Boston.
Brooklyn lodge, the largest, has a membership of 2,974, while Boston lodge, the smallest of the five largest, has 1,573, on its roster. Pennsylvania has the largest number of lodges, having 109, while Ohio comes next with seventy-nine. Illinois ranks third in the procession with sixty-five and New York is fourth with fifty-nine.
The five lodges having the largest assets are: Portland, New York Brooklyn, Spokane and Youngstown. The Portland, Ore., lodge owns $321,373.40. The following lodges are the five leaders for the year ending March 31, 1911, in the great principle of the order - charity, New York, which gave $10,102.53; Denver, New Orleans, Ensley, Ala. and Brooklyn. The total assets of the subordinate lodges are $17,332,784.69.
The Altoona lodge, which it will be noticed. was started about twenty years after the order was first established, after five years had forty members. Within ten years it had grown to eighty. At the time of the dedication, on November 19, 1907, the Altoona lodge had 422 members.
The order at first met in the Knights of Pythias rooms in the Stehle block, where it was organized. The members desired to have rooms of their own, and in February, 1889, moved to the fourth floor of the annex of the Eleventh Avenue opera house building. After the Mountain City theatre building, now the Orpheum theatre building, was reconstructed after its first big fire, the Elks moved to quarters on its fourth floor. At that time there were only twenty-seven members, yet the rooms were furnished at a cost of $2,200.
On August 15, 1893, the order moved into the Nicholson block, into the rooms now occupied by the Knights of Columbus. It was after moving into these quarters that the lodge started to boom and it grew to such proportions that the members began to think of a building to be used exclusively by the Elks. A committee was appointed, therefore, and the present magnificent structure on Twelfth street between Twelfth and Thirteenth avenues was erected and furnished at a cost of $75.000. The society was retarded somewhat in the occupation of its home by the great fire that destroyed the Rothert and Mishler theatre buildings, and badly damaged the new Elk home, then in course of construction.
The committee that successfully engineered the building of the new home was composed of H. E. Ferguson, W. H. Weber, William S. Westfall, William L. Shellenberger, Frank Stehle, J. S. Stier, Frank Brandt and L. H. Hoffman.
When the home of the local lodge was dedicated John K. Tener, now governor of Pennsylvania, then grand exalted ruler of the Elks, was the chief officiating officer. The dedication was a great ceremony and stands as a fragment memory in the minds of the members.
The officers of the lodge at the time of the dedication were: Exalted ruler, S. B. Hare, esq.; esteemed leading knight, P. N. Rich; esteemed loyal knight. T. W. Wickersham; esteemed lecturing knight, W. W. West; secretary. John C. Storm; treasurer, W. H. Weber: tiler, J. H. Butler; esquire, Charles F. Carpenter; inner guard. A. W. Westfall; chaplain, Edwin M. Amies, esq.; organist, W. A. Green; trustees, H. E. Ferguson, W. C. Westfall and J. S. Stier; board of governors, Frank Stehle, W. S. Shellenberger and W. C. Klippert.
The present officers of the local lodge: Exalted ruler. A. S. Piper; esteemed leading knight, Charles A. Greer; esteemed loyal knight, J. E. Rininger; esteemed lecturing knight, W. P. Schenk; secretary, John C. Storm: treasurer, William E. Weber: esquire, Walter C. Klippert; tiler, J. H. Butler; chaplain, Thaddeus Wetzler: trustees, W. C. Westfall, J. S. Stier and J. B. Stahl.
Altoona Tribune, Altoona, Pa., Monday, October 16, 1911, page 4