A general holiday was declared in the thriving, hustling little "oil town" of Tulsa on February 4, 1905. Merchants closed their doors and Main Street was gaily decorated all the way from the Frisco depot---a typical wooden structure, with the customary "barn-yard" red paint---to Third Street, then the limit of the business district.
Almost the entire membership of the Muskogee Lodge, accompanied by a "silver cornet" band, journeyed to Tulsa for the opening session and initiation of the Tulsa Lodge of Elks. the degrees were conferred by the officers of the Muskogee Lodge, under special dispensation from the Grand Exalted Ruler. The charter members--which included some of Tulsa's most successful business men and millionaires of today--mumbered about thirty.
Among those who signed the petition to the Grand Lodge for the fomation of the Tulsa Lodge, was practically every "live wire" and substantial citizen of the city, as well as business and professional memn of Sapulpa, Pawhuska, and surrounding towns.
Of the original members only a few are left. Some have risen to wealth and fame; others have moved on to richer fields, while still others have gone to their reward above--"Their faults written upon the sands of time; their virtues upon the tablets of love and memory."
Roy R. Getman was proprietor of the village drug store--where "the boys" were wont to congregate in the evening to discuss weighty problems confronting the world at large. Getman was perhaps the best known man in town--consequently he was "elected" to be the first to "ride the goat" when the new lodge was institued.
Other charter members included "Ed" Strouvelle, then station agent for the Frisco and the present time rated in the oil world; Oscar Howard appeared to be the only "oil producer" on the list. He has since amassed a fortune and spends most of his time at his beautiful home in Pasadena, California, although he takes an active interest in the local lodge when in Tulsa.
Phil E. Ott who has since passed away, but holds a fond place in the memory of the "old timers"; "Bob" Epperson, now an oil man of Fort Worth, Texas, was the first secretary of the lodge, as was re-elected for consecutive terms.
The first initiatin was held in Epperson's Opera House--on the second floor of a store building on Main Street, betwen First and Second. The first regular meeting, after the lodge was formed, was held in the old Masonic Hall, on First Street, then the main artery of commerce. Permanent officers were installed at this time, with "Ed" Reynolds as Exalted Ruler.
From a beginning 15 years ago with a handful of members--but every one wide-awake and progressive--the Tulsa Lodge wa steadily kept paced with the growth of Tulsa, and at the present time there are appoximately 2,000 members.
As an indication of the progressive spirit of the Tulsa Elks, the present magificent clubhouse, at the corner of Third Street and Boulder Avenue, was financed entirely by the membrs and erected within less than a year after the plans had been approved.
The building and fixtures cost approximately $100,000, and was opened with an elaborate celebration--the banner social event of the season in the fall of 1910.
Many notables have been entertained by the Tulsa Elks, and the fame of the local club is as widespread as the magic name of "Tulsa" itself.
Always observing the fundamental principles upon which the order was founded, the Tulsa lodge not only teaches brotherly love n the lodge room, but endeavors to apply its teachings in a proctical manner. Many shackes and hovels in the outlying districts of Tulsa have been gladdened by the charitable activities of the lodge, and the organizd charitable institutions of the city and country always find the lodge ready and willing the extend unlimited support.