Missouri Fraternal Lodges

About Fraternal Organizations in Missouri

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

History of Fraternal Organizations in Missouri

Missouri's fraternal history begins with the steamboat era and the great westward migrations, when St. Louis served as the gateway to the Plains and Kansas City rose on the bluffs of the Missouri River as a cattle, grain, and railroad hub. By the 1840s the city of St. Louis already had a thriving lodge culture, and by the eve of the Civil War the Masons, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Knights of Pythias had built lodges in nearly every Missouri county seat.

The state's location at the crossroads of North and South, East and West, gave its fraternal life an unusually broad palette: German immigrants in St. Louis brought the Sons of Hermann and the Druids, Irish immigrants brought the Ancient Order of Hibernians and later the Knights of Columbus, and African American communities developed extensive Prince Hall Masonic, United Brotherhood of Friendship, and Court of Calanthe networks that anchored the post-Reconstruction Black middle class in cities like Sedalia, St. Louis, and Kansas City. The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks reached Missouri exceptionally early; St.

Louis Elks Lodge No. 9 was chartered in 1880, only twelve years after the order's founding in New York, making it one of the oldest BPOE lodges in the country and the senior lodge west of the Mississippi. Kansas City Lodge No. 26 followed in the early 1880s, and from those two anchors Elks lodges spread to Joplin, Springfield, Hannibal, Sedalia, and beyond.

Missouri's Knights of Columbus story is also unusually significant: the order held key early national conventions in St. Louis, including its growth into a national organization, and the state has been a KC stronghold ever since. The Pendergast political machine in early-twentieth-century Kansas City worked through fraternal halls as much as through ward clubs, and Harry S. Truman's rise from Jackson County into the White House passed directly through the lodge rooms of Independence, Kansas City, and Grandview.

fraternalfinder.com indexes hundreds of Missouri lodges, councils, and clubs, and the orders below remain central to civic life from the Bootheel to the Iowa border.

Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks in Missouri

St. Louis Lodge No. 9 holds pride of place among Missouri's Elks. Chartered in 1880, only a dozen years after Charles Vivian and the Jolly Corks founded the order in New York City, St.

Louis No. 9 became a magnet for theatrical performers, journalists, and rivermen in a city whose downtown was already among the busiest commercial districts in the Midwest. Kansas City Lodge No. 26, chartered shortly after, anchored the Elks on the western side of the state and grew into one of the largest lodges in the order during the 1920s and 1930s.

The Missouri State Elks Association was organized in the late nineteenth century to coordinate the state's lodges, and Missouri Elks have hosted the Grand Lodge convention multiple times. The state's Elks Major Project supports the Missouri Elks Charity Fund, which provides grants for children with developmental disabilities, and the Elks National Foundation has consistently included Missouri among its top fundraising states per capita. Hoop Shoot tournaments, the Americanism Essay Contest, drug-awareness programs, and substantial veterans' work at the Kansas City and St. Louis VA hospitals make up the core of the modern Missouri Elks calendar.

Older lodges in Joplin, Springfield, Sedalia, Hannibal, and St. Joseph maintain landmark buildings on their downtown blocks, and several have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The St. Louis Elks have hosted the Grand Lodge convention multiple times, and Missouri lodges have produced several Grand Exalted Rulers over the decades.

Missouri Elks today are particularly active in supporting the Missouri Veterans Home system, with lodges throughout the state visiting residents, sponsoring meals, and donating equipment.

Loyal Order of Moose in Missouri

The Loyal Order of Moose came to Missouri in the early twentieth century, with St. Louis and Kansas City lodges among the order's earliest urban anchors west of the Mississippi. Springfield, Joplin, Cape Girardeau, Independence, and St. Joseph followed, and by the 1930s the Moose had a presence in most Missouri industrial towns.

Mooseheart, the children's home and school in Illinois, and Moosehaven, the retirement community in Florida, are central to the Moose mission, and Missouri lodges have a long tradition of sending students and members to both. The Women of the Moose chapters in Missouri have organized blood drives, school-supply campaigns, and senior outreach programs for generations. Moose lodges across the state are known for fish fries, country music dance nights, and bingo programs that fund a steady drip of community charity. Kansas City and St.

Louis Moose lodges in particular have served as gathering places for working-class fraternal life since long before air conditioning made downtown halls bearable in the summer. St. Louis and Kansas City Moose lodges in particular have served as gathering places for working-class fraternal life since long before air conditioning made downtown halls bearable in the summer, and many Missouri lodges have maintained their original buildings through several waves of urban change. The Missouri Moose Association remains active in Mooseheart and Moosehaven contributions.

Eagles, Knights of Columbus & Other Fraternal Orders in Missouri

The Fraternal Order of Eagles arrived in Missouri shortly after its founding in Seattle, with St. Louis and Kansas City Aeries chartered in the first years of the twentieth century. The Eagles' national campaigns for Mother's Day, old-age pensions, and Social Security found receptive audiences in industrial Missouri, and aeries throughout the state grew quickly during the 1910s and 1920s. The Knights of Columbus, however, are the dominant Catholic fraternal force in Missouri, and the state's KC presence is one of the most historically significant in the country.

The order held foundational national conventions in St. Louis, and by the early twentieth century Missouri had become a key state in KC growth. Harry S. Truman, the Independence haberdasher who would become the 33rd president, was a longtime member of the Knights of Columbus, and his fraternal life in Jackson County also included Masonic affiliation as a Past Grand Master of Missouri.

Today the Missouri State Council oversees several hundred KC councils with tens of thousands of members. The state's councils support seminarian education, Catholic schools, Special Olympics Missouri, and a substantial parish-level food and clothing relief network. The Missouri Catholic fraternal heritage also includes the Catholic Knights of America, an organization that operated in St. Louis and Kansas City for many decades, and the Western Catholic Union, both of which contributed to the state's Catholic mutual benefit history alongside the Knights of Columbus.

Missouri KC councils have been particularly active in funding Catholic Radio in St. Louis, Kansas City, and Springfield, and in supporting seminarian education at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis.

Missouri Fraternal Lodges by the Numbers

Missouri currently hosts roughly 90 Elks lodges, around 80 Moose lodges, more than 50 Eagles aeries, and approximately 350 Knights of Columbus councils, the latter figure placing the state firmly in the KC top ten by council count. The Independent Order of Odd Fellows, once dominant in nearly every county, has consolidated to a few dozen active lodges, with stronger pockets in the Ozarks and the Missouri River valley. Lions Clubs International is well represented through Missouri's two multiple districts, with more than 250 clubs and over 8,000 members statewide. Rotary, Kiwanis, and Civitan add several thousand more members in college towns, county seats, and metropolitan suburbs.

When Prince Hall Masons, Eastern Star, ladies' auxiliaries, and other fraternal benefit societies are counted, Missouri's total active fraternal membership likely exceeds 130,000 across the state. Several Missouri ethnic mutual benefit societies, including German, Italian, and Slavic groups in St. Louis, also retain meaningful memberships.

How to Join a Fraternal Lodge in Missouri

Joining a Missouri lodge follows the standard pattern of each order. The Elks require candidates to be at least 21 years of age, U.S. citizens, of good moral character, and to affirm a belief in God; sponsorship by an Elks member and approval by lodge ballot are required. Initiation fees in Missouri typically run from $50 to $200, and annual dues range from $90 to $200 depending on the lodge.

Moose membership is open to candidates 21 and older with a sponsor; dues are generally between $40 and $80 a year, and the enrollment ceremony is brief. Eagles aeries admit men through the Grand Aerie and women through the Grand Auxiliary, with similar procedures and dues. The Knights of Columbus admits practical Catholic men 18 and over; Missouri councils have widely adopted the Supreme Council's online enrollment system, and many parishes hold combined exemplifications of the first three degrees several times a year. Lions, Rotary, and Kiwanis all welcome guests to meetings and have straightforward membership applications, while Odd Fellows lodges in Missouri are typically open to candidates 16 and older with sponsorship and a short investigation period.

Many Missouri lodges hold open public events, including barbecue dinners, fish fries, and chili cookoffs, that serve as informal recruiting opportunities and let prospective members get a sense of the lodge's culture before making a formal application.

Notable Missouri Fraternal Members in History

Harry S. Truman, the 33rd president of the United States, sits at the center of Missouri's fraternal story. Truman was an active Knight of Columbus and famously a Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Missouri (Masons), having joined Belton Lodge No. 450 in 1909 and rising through the Masonic ranks while running his Independence haberdashery and Jackson County political career.

President Truman frequented Elks lodges throughout the state and wrote affectionately about the role of fraternal life in his own development. Senator Stuart Symington of St. Louis was a member of multiple civic and fraternal orders, as was Senator Thomas Hart Benton, the painter (not the senator of the same name) who frequented Kansas City fraternal halls. Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) of Hannibal was a Mason and an Odd Fellow, and his fiction is laced with affectionate fraternal references.

T.S. Eliot, the St. Louis-born poet, came from a family deeply embedded in St. Louis civic life.

Walter Cronkite, born in St. Joseph, grew up in a Midwest fraternal milieu, and Walt Disney of Marceline was a member of DeMolay International, the Masonic-sponsored youth organization. Modern Missouri political and business figures across both parties have routinely come up through Lions, Rotary, Kiwanis, and Knights of Columbus circles.

Frequently Asked Questions: Missouri Fraternal Lodges

Sources & Further Reading

• https://www.elks.org
• https://www.mooseintl.org
• https://www.foe.com
• https://www.kofc.org
• https://www.ioof.org
• https://www.lionsclubs.org
• https://www.rotary.org
• https://www.kiwanis.org
• https://www.trumanlibrary.gov
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman
• https://www.missourielks.org
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_Columbus