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Though the Moose fraternal organization was founded in the late
1800s with the modest goal of offering men an opportunity to
gather socially, it was reinvented during the first decade of the
20th century into an organizational dynamo of men and women
who set out to build a city that would brighten the futures of
thousands of children in need all across North America.
When Dr. John Henry Wilson, a Louisville, Ky., physician,
organized a handful of men into the Loyal Order of Moose in the
parlor of his home in the spring of 1888, he and his compatriots
did so apparently for no other reason than to form a string of
men's social clubs. Lodges were instituted in Cincinnati, St. Louis,
and the smaller Indiana towns of Crawfordsville and Frankfort by
the early 1890s, but Dr. Wilson himself became dissatisfied and
left the infant order well before the turn of the century.
James J. Davis Founder: Mooseheart & Moosehaven
It was just the two remaining Indiana Lodges that kept the Moose
from disappearing altogether, until the fall of 1906, when an
outgoing young government clerk from Elwood, Ind., was invited
to enroll into the Crawfordsville Lodge. It was on James J. Davis'
33rd birthday, October 27, that he became just the 247th member
of the Loyal Order of Moose.
Davis, a native of Wales who had worked from boyhood as an
"iron puddler" in the steel mills of Pennsylvania, had also been a
labor organizer and immediately saw potential to build the tiny
Moose fraternity into a force to provide protection and security for
a largely working-class membership. At the time little or no
government "safety net" existed to provide benefits to the wife
and children of a breadwinner who died or became disabled. Davis
proposed to "pitch" Moose membership as a way to provide such
protection at a bargain price; annual dues of $5 to $10. Given a
green light and the title of "Supreme Organizer," Davis and a few
other colleagues set out to solicit members and organize Moose
Lodges across the U.S. and southern Canada. (In 1926, the Moose
fraternity's presence extended across the Atlantic, with the
founding of the Grand Lodge of Great Britain.)
Davis' marketing instincts were on-target: By 1912, the order had
grown from 247 members in two Lodges, to a colossus of nearly
500,000 in more than 1,000 Lodges. Davis, appointed the
organization's first chief executive with the new title of Director
General, realized it was time to make good on the promise. The
Moose began a program of paying "sick benefits" to members too
ill to work--and, more ambitiously, Davis and the organization's
other officers made plans for a "Moose Institute," to be centrally
located somewhere in the Midwest that would provide a home,
schooling and vocational training to children of deceased Moose
members.
The Birth of Mooseheart
After careful consideration of numerous sites, the Moose Supreme
Council in late 1912 approved the purchase of what was known as
the Brookline Farm--more than 1,000 acres along the then-dirt
surfaced Lincoln Highway, between Batavia and North Aurora on
the west side of the Fox River, about 40 miles west of Chicago.
Ohio Congressman John Lentz, a member of the Supreme
organized a handful of men into the Loyal Order of Moose in the
parlor of his home in the spring of 1888, he and his compatriots
did so apparently for no other reason than to form a string of
men's social clubs. Lodges were instituted in Cincinnati, St. Louis,
and the smaller Indiana towns of Crawfordsville and Frankfort by
the early 1890s, but Dr. Wilson himself became dissatisfied and
left the infant order well before the turn of the century.
James J. Davis Founder: Mooseheart & Moosehaven
It was just the two remaining Indiana Lodges that kept the Moose
from disappearing altogether, until the fall of 1906, when an
outgoing young government clerk from Elwood, Ind., was invited
to enroll into the Crawfordsville Lodge. It was on James J. Davis'
33rd birthday, October 27, that he became just the 247th member
of the Loyal Order of Moose.
Davis, a native of Wales who had worked from boyhood as an
"iron puddler" in the steel mills of Pennsylvania, had also been a
labor organizer and immediately saw potential to build the tiny
Moose fraternity into a force to provide protection and security for
a largely working-class membership. At the time little or no
government "safety net" existed to provide benefits to the wife
and children of a breadwinner who died or became disabled. Davis
proposed to "pitch" Moose membership as a way to provide such
protection at a bargain price; annual dues of $5 to $10. Given a
green light and the title of "Supreme Organizer," Davis and a few
other colleagues set out to solicit members and organize Moose
Lodges across the U.S. and southern Canada. (In 1926, the Moose
fraternity's presence extended across the Atlantic, with the
founding of the Grand Lodge of Great Britain.)
Davis' marketing instincts were on-target: By 1912, the order had
grown from 247 members in two Lodges, to a colossus of nearly
500,000 in more than 1,000 Lodges. Davis, appointed the
organization's first chief executive with the new title of Director
General, realized it was time to make good on the promise. The
Moose began a program of paying "sick benefits" to members too
ill to work--and, more ambitiously, Davis and the organization's
other officers made plans for a "Moose Institute," to be centrally
located somewhere in the Midwest that would provide a home,
schooling and vocational training to children of deceased Moose
members.
The Birth of Mooseheart
After careful consideration of numerous sites, the Moose Supreme
Council in late 1912 approved the purchase of what was known as
the Brookline Farm--more than 1,000 acres along the then-dirt
surfaced Lincoln Highway, between Batavia and North Aurora on
the west side of the Fox River, about 40 miles west of Chicago.
Ohio Congressman John Lentz, a member of the Supreme
Council, conceived the name "Mooseheart" for the new community: "This," he said, "will always
be the place where the Moose fraternity will collectively pour out its heart, its devotion and
sustenance, to the children of its members in need."
So it was on a hot summer Sunday, July 27, 1913, that several thousand Moose men and
women (for the Women of the Moose received formal recognition that year as the organization's
official female component) gathered under a rented circus tent toward the south end of the new
property and placed the cornerstone for Mooseheart. The first 11 youngsters in residence were
present, having been admitted earlier that month; they and a handful of workers were housed in
the original farmhouse and a few rough-hewn frame buildings that had been erected that spring.
Addressing Need on the Other End of Life:
Moosehaven Mooseheart's construction proceeded furiously over the next decade, but it only
barely kept pace with the admissions that swelled the student census to nearly 1,000 by 1920.
(Mooseheart's student population would reach a peak of 1,300 during the depths of the Great
Depression; housing was often "barracks" style - unacceptable by today's standards.
Mooseheart officials now consider the campus' ultimate maximum capacity as no more than
500.) Still, by the Twenties, Davis and his Moose colleagues thought the fraternity should do
more--this time for aged members who were having trouble making ends meet in retirement. (A
limited number of elderly members had been invited to live at Mooseheart since 1915.)
They bought 26 acres of shoreline property just south of Jacksonville, Florida, and in the fall of
1922, Moosehaven, the "City of Contentment," was opened, with the arrival of its first 22
retired Moose residents. Moosehaven has since grown to a 63-acre community providing a
comfortable home, a wide array of recreational activities and comprehensive health care to
more than 400 residents.
As the Moose fraternity grew in visibility and influence, so did Jim Davis. President Warren
Harding named him to his Cabinet as Secretary of Labor in 1921, and Davis continued in that
post under Presidents Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover as well. In November 1930, Davis, a
Republican, won election to the U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania, and he served there with
distinction for the next 14 years. As both Labor Secretary and Senator, Davis was known as a
conservative champion of labor, who fought hard for the rights of unions--but felt that the
workingman should expect no "handouts" of any sort. In the Senate, it was Davis who
spearheaded passage of landmark legislation to force building contractors to pay laborers
"prevailing" union-level wages in any government construction work. The law bore his name:
the Davis-Bacon Act.
be the place where the Moose fraternity will collectively pour out its heart, its devotion and
sustenance, to the children of its members in need."
So it was on a hot summer Sunday, July 27, 1913, that several thousand Moose men and
women (for the Women of the Moose received formal recognition that year as the organization's
official female component) gathered under a rented circus tent toward the south end of the new
property and placed the cornerstone for Mooseheart. The first 11 youngsters in residence were
present, having been admitted earlier that month; they and a handful of workers were housed in
the original farmhouse and a few rough-hewn frame buildings that had been erected that spring.
Addressing Need on the Other End of Life:
Moosehaven Mooseheart's construction proceeded furiously over the next decade, but it only
barely kept pace with the admissions that swelled the student census to nearly 1,000 by 1920.
(Mooseheart's student population would reach a peak of 1,300 during the depths of the Great
Depression; housing was often "barracks" style - unacceptable by today's standards.
Mooseheart officials now consider the campus' ultimate maximum capacity as no more than
500.) Still, by the Twenties, Davis and his Moose colleagues thought the fraternity should do
more--this time for aged members who were having trouble making ends meet in retirement. (A
limited number of elderly members had been invited to live at Mooseheart since 1915.)
They bought 26 acres of shoreline property just south of Jacksonville, Florida, and in the fall of
1922, Moosehaven, the "City of Contentment," was opened, with the arrival of its first 22
retired Moose residents. Moosehaven has since grown to a 63-acre community providing a
comfortable home, a wide array of recreational activities and comprehensive health care to
more than 400 residents.
As the Moose fraternity grew in visibility and influence, so did Jim Davis. President Warren
Harding named him to his Cabinet as Secretary of Labor in 1921, and Davis continued in that
post under Presidents Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover as well. In November 1930, Davis, a
Republican, won election to the U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania, and he served there with
distinction for the next 14 years. As both Labor Secretary and Senator, Davis was known as a
conservative champion of labor, who fought hard for the rights of unions--but felt that the
workingman should expect no "handouts" of any sort. In the Senate, it was Davis who
spearheaded passage of landmark legislation to force building contractors to pay laborers
"prevailing" union-level wages in any government construction work. The law bore his name:
the Davis-Bacon Act.
| Fenton Lodge 430 - Chapter 2364 |
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