The Anderson daily intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson, S.C.) 1914-1915, 1914-06-19
THE FIRST LODGE
OF TINE E}. p. O. F..
Started III Coed Fc:low.l.ip a,,ei :,
pcsirc to- Promote Char 'ty
and Ecccvclcr-c

ny f'iitN licll. ..Ha. Il 4" isn.rf g. TO-
lnnhia lodge. no. 900. Columbia
The Elks lodge sprauE out OF the
raniaradcric that alwa": has existed
among actor folk. aud which wa, at
lis height In the good old days when
actors were half vagahond,; and al
Ways good fellows. and good luck WAS
shared and hard luck was lightcncd
by the ready cyinpathy and the will
!ng loan cs those more fortunate
The spirit OF El!s,iOm was long eX-
istcnt before there w. any thought Of
Il formal organization In fact the
organization was spontaneous. there
'.cing no purpose to make il any more
than local body. The records were
not safcguartlcd ard the fact that
the :i:st minutes were slowed away in
IL trunk and lett IN boarding house
in New York where it wns stolen, ac-
count" for the obscuri:: that en-
Shroild5 the origin 0f the lodge.
Originally Jolly CorkS.
However. there waa enough of trad
ition and enough OF corOborative cir
cumd,ancc to allow 4 complete and
satisfactory history to BE- patched ND,
and from this we know that the Elks
is the outcome of the old society
known as the jolly Corks. This or
ganiHation was formed in 1867 by nc
tors who met Sunday afternoons
their day Off---f0r IL social time The
leader in the movement was Charles
a. VIVIAN, an English actor, full OF
fun and praIkY The Corks nt first
met in n rooin in q boa!tlirg house,
but tic popularity OF the informal or
der grew to such an extent that The
quarters were sCon outgrOwn, and the
patience of the land!ady cXhau~tc1
Now quarter; were obtained ami
the company ran along for samc time
until it WAS tlccieti To make tic or
der formal and more exclusive IT
VAS moved that we resolve on: selves
into benevolent order nntl appoint Il
committee TO draft n constitution and
select Il name"
Visit Mcnageric for Name.
This organization held sway for
some time and was found adequate,
but even this was outgrown and the
Elks resulted. Tho agitation for the
new society went on for some time.
and Vivian. who had hccn IL member
OF the English order of Buffaos was III
favor 0f making the new society a
Subsidiary Of the EnGish oryan:a-
tion, or at least To take that name.
The American spirit Of independence
ut once asserted itEclf. however, and
there whs objection to the name
Plnns for tho :ocicty went or hut the
matter Of name hung fire and the
members kept or the lookout for Il
suitable designation. During thc,r
aenich, rome of them visited Iiarnums :
museum and took {: look at the ami
mails. They rejected TIE bear n. liav-
ing no commcIdahlc traits, passed by
tho moose a unsuitable. hut were
struck with the idcn suggested by tho
elk. They we're told that IL was fleet
Of foot ami timid at, wrong doing ard.
pursuing their c.ndses further at tho
Cooper Institute learned That the Gle
never was aggressive, in battle and
avoided conflict except defense Of It's
young. its females and the weak The
delegation went bacls fired with the
idea Of adopting that name. and wore
met by IN eaun, number that stood for
Vivian's suggestion. and for IL time the
"otc stood seven for "clk," and seven
for buffalo" Finally one of the
buffalo" adhcreuts gave In and the
name OF the organization became the
Elkc.
The first charter was Issued Feb.
IL. 1865. and at that time and for two
years. 1t was not anticipated that the
lodge would lie anything more than a