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It was over 100 years ago
on February 6th, 1898 the Fraternal Order of Eagles was founded by
six theater owners sitting on a pile of lumber in Moran's shipyard
in Seattle Washington. Competitors in the theater industry, they met
to discuss a musicians strike. After deciding what to do on that
issue, they decided to bury the hatchet and and form an organization
dubbed "The Order of Good Things".
The first meetings
were held on the stages of various local theaters and after the
business was settled a keg of beer was rolled out and all enjoyed a
few hours of social activities. A few weeks later as their numbers
grew they chose the Bald Eagle as their official emblem and changed
the name to "The Fraternal Order of Eagles." The membership formed a
Grand Aerie in April 1898, secured a charter, drew up a constitution
and by-laws and elected it's first president, John
Cort.
Most of the first Eagle members were connected
with the theatre, actors, stagehands, playwrights, etc., and as they
went on tour they carried the story of the new order with them
across the United States and Canada. This is the reason the Eagles
grew so quickly and all the way across the country. Many cities in
the east have low aerie numbers such as New York #40, Philadelphia
#42 and Buffalo #46.
The idea spread like wildfire. The order
was unique in it's concept of brotherhood and it's early success has
been attributed to it's establishment of a sick and funeral benefit
(no Eagle was ever buried in a "Potter's Field"), along with
provisions for an Aerie physician and other "fringe benefits",
unknown in other fraternal organizations up to that time.
As
the Eagles grew, so did its responsibilities to it's members. Its
first Constitution and By-Laws were merely copied from those
previously used by a defunct fraternal organization and it took
later members like Frank Hering - the "Father of Mothers Day," and
long time editor of the national Eagle Publication - to revise the
By-Laws and make them unique from any other
organization.
Hering, a member of South Bend Aerie No. 435,
who had been Notre Dame's first Athletic Director and a great
football quarterback and baseball player, wrote the order's funeral
service. When he died in 1943 his stirring words were recited over
his own body by Grand Worthy President Lester Loble. It was men like
Hering who kept the eagles from going under during the difficult
days at the turn of the century and built the solid foundation it
rests on today.
Over the years, the Eagles have fought and
won many bitter battles for a Workman's Compensation Act, Mothers
and Old Age pensions, Social Security laws and "Jobs After 40" and
are still fighting to liberalize present social benefits along with
combating vicious diseases plaguing mankind through their
sponsorship of the Art Ehrmann Cancer Fund, Max Bear Heart Fund,
Jimmy Durante Children's Fund, "Doc" Dunlap Kidney Fund and the
Diabetes Fund.
Many great social and political leaders have
belonged to the Eagles. President Theodore Roosevelt was one of the
many who joined and praised the order for its humanitarian
accomplishments, as did a later Roosevelt - Franklin D. President
Harry S. Truman often reiterated that the Eagles were his type of
organization - one founded by, and for the common man.
As you learn about our
history, you will see we are just like you. Proud, Caring,
People Helping People, that understand that the needs of the many
will always outweigh the needs of the
few. |
