Kansas Fraternal Lodges

About Fraternal Organizations in Kansas

A deep look at the history, oldest lodges, membership process, and notable members of fraternal organizations across Kansas.

History of Fraternal Organizations in Kansas

Kansas fraternalism grew up alongside the wheat, the railroads, and the long, slow argument over what kind of state Kansas was going to be. When the territory was opened in 1854, settlers arrived from Massachusetts, Missouri, Kentucky, and a dozen other states, and many of them brought their lodge dues receipts in their trunks. Masonic lodges were chartered in towns like Wyandotte and Leavenworth before Kansas was even a state, and by the time statehood arrived in 1861 the Grand Lodge of Kansas was already up and running. Odd Fellows followed close behind, planting halls along the Santa Fe and Union Pacific lines so that traveling brothers could find a meal and a bed in places that were otherwise just a water tower and a grain elevator.

The Grange swept through Kansas farm country in the 1870s, and Knights of Pythias and Modern Woodmen of America offered cheap life insurance to homesteaders who could not afford the commercial product. By the 1880s, when the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks began moving west of the Mississippi, Kansas towns were already a tangle of fraternal halls, with Masonic temples, IOOF buildings, and Pythian castles often sharing a downtown block. Topeka Elks Lodge No. 204, Wichita Elks Lodge No.

427, and a string of Elks lodges in Kansas City, Hutchinson, Salina, and Pittsburg arrived as the state shifted from frontier to settled commercial centers. Catholic immigration into the railroad and meatpacking towns built strong Knights of Columbus councils in Kansas City, Wichita, and the small German-Catholic colonies of Ellis and Marshall counties. Today Kansas fraternal life is quieter than it was in 1910, when nearly one in three adult men belonged to at least one lodge, but the buildings are still there, the dinners still happen, and the scholarship checks still get written.

Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks in Kansas

The Elks arrived in Kansas as the order itself was learning how to be a national institution. Topeka Elks Lodge No. 204 was instituted in the early 1890s and quickly became one of the social anchors of the capital, its membership rolls full of statehouse clerks, railroad agents, and downtown merchants who liked the idea of a club that was open about its charity but private about its politics. Wichita Elks Lodge No.

427, chartered as the city was beginning its transformation from cattle town to aviation hub, would eventually grow into one of the larger lodges on the plains, with a downtown clubhouse that served as a quiet civic landmark for most of the twentieth century. Smaller lodges followed in Kansas City (Kansas), Hutchinson, Salina, Pittsburg, Atchison, Coffeyville, Independence, Parsons, Dodge City, Garden City, Liberal, and Leavenworth, each one tied to the local economy of wheat, oil, lead and zinc, or meat. Kansas Elks were early adopters of the order's signature charities. The state association funded scholarships through the Elks National Foundation, supported the Elks Major Project for Kansas children with disabilities, and built a reputation for sponsoring Hoop Shoot and Soccer Shoot programs in towns where the YMCA was the only other kid-focused option.

World War I and II saw Kansas lodges send astonishing numbers of members into uniform, and the postwar era brought the familiar pattern of bingo, fish fries, and Flag Day ceremonies that defined small-town Elks life across the Midwest. Wichita's lodge in particular became known for hosting visiting Grand Exalted Rulers and for an active veterans program tied to the McConnell Air Force Base community, while Topeka 204 retained close ties to the Kansas State Capitol and the Menninger psychiatric clinic. The Kansas State Elks Association also runs an annual scholarship competition that has helped thousands of Kansas high-schoolers pay for college.

Loyal Order of Moose in Kansas

The Loyal Order of Moose came to Kansas through the same channels it used everywhere else: traveling organizers, railroad workers, and a sales pitch built around mutual insurance and a kid-friendly campus called Mooseheart. Wichita, Topeka, Kansas City, Pittsburg, Salina, Hutchinson, Hays, and Coffeyville all chartered Moose lodges in the first quarter of the twentieth century, and many of them are still active today. The Mooseheart connection mattered in Kansas, where rural members felt the appeal of an institution that promised to raise the children of any deceased brother on a working farm-school in Illinois. Kansas Women of the Moose chapters paralleled the men's lodges and ran much of the actual charitable work, from cancer-fund drives to scholarship awards.

Pittsburg Moose Lodge in particular built a reputation in the southeast Kansas coal-mining country as a working-class social center, hosting dances, fish fries, and meetings of the United Mine Workers in the same hall. Wichita's Moose Lodge grew alongside the aviation industry, drawing members from Boeing, Cessna, and Beechcraft through the boom years of the 1940s and 1950s. The Kansas Moose Association also funded a long-running children's scholarship program and supported Moosehaven, the order's retirement community in Florida, which has hosted Kansas members for generations. The Moose footprint in Kansas today is smaller than in the 1950s but remarkably stable, with a couple of dozen active lodges still scattered across the state.

Eagles, Knights of Columbus & Other Fraternal Orders in Kansas

The Fraternal Order of Eagles came west to Kansas in the early 1900s, planting aeries in the working-class neighborhoods of Wichita, Kansas City, Topeka, and the lead-and-zinc towns of Pittsburg and Galena. Eagles members in Kansas were instrumental in pushing for the kind of social legislation the order is famous for, including support for old-age pensions, mothers' pensions, and the local enforcement of fair-labor laws in the 1910s and 1920s. Knights of Columbus, however, may be the most consequential Catholic fraternal presence in Kansas. The state was a major destination for German Catholics fleeing the Volga region of Russia in the 1870s, and their settlements at Catherine, Pfeifer, Schoenchen, Liebenthal, and Munjor produced exceptionally strong KC councils.

Kansas City (Kansas) and Wichita each became hubs of Fourth Degree assemblies, and the state councils have long been national leaders on a per-capita basis for things like Coats for Kids drives, ultrasound-machine donations to pregnancy centers, and seminarian support. The Diocese of Salina and the Diocese of Dodge City both maintain particularly active KC networks, and Kansas City's parishes anchor a strong Fourth Degree presence. The Kansas State Council also runs a popular annual Tootsie Roll drive supporting citizens with intellectual disabilities. Combined with a robust Masonic presence and a large Scottish Rite Cathedral in Wichita, the Eagles and KC chapters round out a fraternal ecosystem that still defines a lot of Kansas civic life.

Kansas Fraternal Lodges by the Numbers

Kansas is home to roughly 60 active Elks lodges with combined membership in the range of 18,000 to 22,000 brothers and sisters, depending on the year. The Moose maintain about 25 to 30 lodges with 8,000 to 10,000 members. Knights of Columbus is unusually strong relative to the state's modest Catholic population, with more than 200 councils and roughly 25,000 members organized under the Kansas State Council. The Fraternal Order of Eagles has about a dozen aeries left, mostly clustered in Wichita, Kansas City, Topeka, and the southeast coal-country towns.

Odd Fellows membership has shrunk dramatically since its 1920s peak but a handful of lodges remain active, particularly in Lawrence and Hutchinson. The Grand Lodge of Kansas Masons reports roughly 14,000 members across about 200 lodges, making Freemasonry the single largest fraternal order in the state by member count. The Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Kansas, headquartered in Wichita, maintains active lodges in Wichita, Topeka, Kansas City, and other communities. Lions Clubs International and Rotary International also have strong Kansas footprints, with Lions particularly active in rural service projects and Rotary anchored in the larger commercial cities.

How to Join a Fraternal Lodge in Kansas

Joining a Kansas fraternal organization is, in most cases, a matter of asking. Elks lodges require members to be U.S. citizens of good character who believe in a Supreme Being and are at least 21, with sponsorship from a current member and a vote of the lodge. Annual dues at most Kansas Elks lodges run between $100 and $180, with a one-time initiation fee.

The Moose accept any person of good character who professes a belief in a Supreme Being and is at least 21 (some states allow younger associate members), with dues typically around $50 to $80 per year. Knights of Columbus requires that men be practical Catholics in good standing with the Church, at least 18 years old, and willing to take part in the order's degrees; KC dues vary by council but generally run between $25 and $50 plus per-capita assessments. The Fraternal Order of Eagles welcomes members of any faith and has the lowest dues of the major orders, often under $40 a year. Odd Fellows lodges in Kansas, where they survive, tend to be the easiest to join, with low dues and a degree system that can be completed in a single weekend in some places.

Notable Kansas Fraternal Members in History

Kansas has produced an outsized share of fraternal members for its population. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who grew up in Abilene, was associated with Masonic and Elks events throughout his career, and he was an honorary member of multiple Kansas Elks lodges. Senator Bob Dole of Russell was a longtime Mason and an honorary member of several Kansas Elks and Moose lodges.

Aviator Amelia Earhart of Atchison was associated with various women's auxiliaries, and her father was a Mason in Atchison. William Allen White, the Emporia editor and Pulitzer Prize winner, was a Mason and a frequent speaker at lodge gatherings across the state. Walter Chrysler, who started out as a railroad mechanic in Ellis, was a Mason and an Elk. Charles Curtis, the only Native American to serve as Vice President of the United States, was a Topeka Mason and an Elk in Topeka Lodge No.

204. More recently, Kansas governors and senators across both parties have routinely been Masons, Elks, or Knights of Columbus members. Aviation pioneer Walter Beech of Wichita was a Mason. Former Kansas City Royals broadcaster Denny Matthews has appeared at Kansas Elks events.

Pitcher Walter Johnson, born in Humboldt, Kansas, had ties to Kansas Masonic and Elks lodges. Former Senator Pat Roberts has been honored at Kansas Knights of Columbus events.

Frequently Asked Questions: Kansas Fraternal Lodges

Sources & Further Reading

• https://www.elks.org
• https://ksea-elks.org
• https://www.mooseintl.org
• https://www.kofc.org
• https://kansas-kofc.org
• https://www.foe.com
• https://grandlodgeofkansas.org
• https://www.kshs.org