Utah Fraternal Lodges

About Fraternal Organizations in Utah

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

History of Fraternal Organizations in Utah

Utah's fraternal history is one of the more unusual stories in American lodge life because the state has always lived at the intersection of two parallel social systems. On one hand, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has shaped Utah more deeply than any single denomination has shaped any other American state, provides a complete network of priesthood quorums, Relief Societies, ward and stake organizations, and youth groups that perform many of the same civic and mutual-aid functions a fraternal lodge does elsewhere. On the other hand, the state's mining camps, railroad towns, and federal-government installations brought in waves of non-LDS workers, miners from Wales, Greece, Italy, and the Slavic countries, soldiers and railroaders from across the United States, and businessmen from the East and Midwest, who built a robust set of conventional fraternal lodges in Salt Lake City, Ogden, Park City, Bingham Canyon, Eureka, Carbon County, Logan, and beyond. Salt Lake City Elks Lodge No.

85, chartered in 1888, is one of the oldest Elks lodges in the Mountain West and was for decades a central social institution for the city's non-LDS commercial elite. The Salt Lake Masonic Temple on South Temple Street, completed in 1927, remains a landmark of fraternal architecture in the Intermountain region. Mining country produced an unusually dense set of ethnic fraternal halls, the AHEPA Greek lodges in Carbon County, Italian mutual-aid societies in Helper and Price, the Polish and Yugoslav benefit societies along the Wasatch Front, and the Cornish miners' clubs in Park City. Ogden, with its rail-junction position, supported its own Elks lodge, Eagles aerie, Moose lodge, and Knights of Columbus council.

The Knights of Columbus, given Utah's small but historically significant Catholic population centered around the Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City and Saint Joseph's in Ogden, established councils that have always been disproportionately influential relative to their numbers. Federal installations, Hill Air Force Base, Tooele Army Depot, Dugway Proving Ground, brought their own fraternal mix in the twentieth century. The result is a state where fraternal lodges have always served partly as a deliberate alternative or complement to the dominant LDS social structure, and partly as the natural civic glue of working-class and immigrant communities. Utah lodges tend to be smaller than those in comparable Western states, but they are notably tight-knit and historically conscious.

Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks in Utah

Salt Lake City Elks Lodge No. 85 was chartered in 1888, only twenty years after the founding of the BPOE in New York. The lodge played a central role in late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century Salt Lake civic life, providing a non-sectarian gathering place at a moment when the city was negotiating the relationship between its LDS majority and a growing population of so-called Gentile professionals. The lodge has occupied several historic buildings in the city, including a beautifully detailed clubhouse just east of downtown, and remains active today.

Ogden Elks Lodge No. 719 followed in the early twentieth century, anchoring a city that was in some ways the more cosmopolitan rail hub of northern Utah. Provo, Logan, Price, Vernal, and Cedar City eventually chartered lodges of their own. Park City's mining-era population supported strong fraternal life, although later changes in the city's demographics led to consolidation.

The Utah State Elks Association funds scholarship programs through the Elks National Foundation, runs Hoop Shoot competitions in coordination with school districts, and supports veterans' programming at the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City. Utah Elks have a strong tradition of supporting youth services in rural counties where mainstream civic infrastructure can be thin, and lodges in eastern Utah have been important in coordinating disaster response after wildfires and floods in the Uinta Basin and along the Book Cliffs.

Loyal Order of Moose in Utah

The Loyal Order of Moose came to Utah through the same mining and rail circuits that brought the other major American fraternal orders. Salt Lake City Moose Lodge No. 376 was chartered in the early twentieth century, and lodges were established in Ogden, Provo, Logan, Price, Vernal, and several smaller communities. Moose membership in Utah has historically drawn from refining, mining, smelting, trucking, and rail trades, and the lodges remain favorites for fish fries, prime rib nights, and Friday dance evenings.

The order's national projects, Mooseheart and Moosehaven, are supported by Utah lodges through statewide tournaments and benefit drives, and the Women of the Moose chapters operate alongside the lodges with their own community projects. Although Utah Moose membership is smaller in absolute terms than in heavily industrial states, individual lodges remain important in working-class neighborhoods of the Salt Lake Valley, the Wasatch Front, and Carbon and Emery counties.

Eagles, Knights of Columbus & Other Fraternal Orders in Utah

The Fraternal Order of Eagles arrived in Utah from its 1898 Seattle origins via railroad and mining contacts. Salt Lake City Aerie No. 67 was one of the earliest Eagles lodges in the Mountain West, and aeries followed in Ogden, Provo, Logan, and Price. Utah Eagles have always been particularly visible in their support of the FOE's signature legislative legacy, which includes Mother's Day and the foundations of Social Security, and the order's modern charitable focus on diabetes research, children's hospitals, and the Jimmy Durante Children's Fund continues to draw Utah Eagles dollars.

The Knights of Columbus presence in Utah is concentrated in the Salt Lake City Catholic community. Salt Lake Council 602 was chartered in 1901 and is one of the oldest councils west of the Rockies. Cathedral Council 5502 at the Cathedral of the Madeleine, Ogden Council 777, Provo Council 5214, and Saint Olaf Council in Bountiful anchor a state council that, although small, is famously active. Utah Knights have raised funds for refugee resettlement through the Diocese of Salt Lake City, supported Latin American seminarian education, and maintained the order's national pro-life programming.

The Tootsie Roll drives every fall in front of Utah grocery stores have become a familiar sight, and the Knights' partnership with Catholic Community Services of Utah has been a fixture of the state's social-service landscape for decades.

Utah Fraternal Lodges by the Numbers

Utah has approximately 30 active Elks lodges with combined membership around 8,000, around 20 Moose lodges with roughly 7,000 members, around 15 Fraternal Order of Eagles aeries with around 5,000 members, and around 50 Knights of Columbus councils with roughly 6,000 members. Lions Clubs are widespread, with more than 100 chartered statewide, and Rotary and Kiwanis maintain strong presences in Salt Lake City, Ogden, Provo, Saint George, and Logan. Total Utah fraternal and civic membership is estimated at more than 40,000 once auxiliary chapters are included. Density is highest in Salt Lake, Weber, and Carbon counties, and the smaller rural lodges in eastern and southern Utah, although modest in numbers, often have outsized roles in their local communities.

How to Join a Fraternal Lodge in Utah

Membership requirements in Utah follow the standard pattern for each order. The Elks require U.S. citizenship, age twenty-one, belief in God, and sponsorship by a current Elk; investigation and a vote follow. Annual dues commonly run between one hundred and two hundred dollars in Utah, with initiation fees usually under two hundred dollars.

The Moose admit men twenty-one and older with sponsorship; Women of the Moose chapters operate alongside the lodges. The Eagles take men eighteen and older. The Knights of Columbus, open to practical Catholic men eighteen and older, is in some respects easiest to join in Utah because most parishes are deeply networked with their councils, and the diocesan vocations and Catholic schools fundraising work creates clear opportunities for new members to plug in immediately. Lions, Rotary, and Kiwanis are coed civic clubs admitted by invitation.

For new arrivals to Utah, especially those moving for work at Hill AFB, the University of Utah, BYU, USU, or the various tech employers along the Silicon Slopes, fraternal lodges have historically been a fast way into local civic life.

Notable Utah Fraternal Members in History

Utah has produced and hosted a notable cast of fraternal members. Thomas Kearns, the mining magnate, U.S. Senator, and owner of the Salt Lake Tribune, was an active Elk and a Knight of Columbus, a combination that fit his role as the most prominent non-LDS public figure in Utah at the turn of the twentieth century. James E.

Glassmann, the Ogden newspaper publisher, was deeply involved in fraternal life, as was George Dern, the Utah governor and U.S. Secretary of War who began his career in mining-camp society. Frank E. Moss, the longtime U.S.

senator, maintained connections to multiple civic clubs. Salt Lake City Elks Lodge No. 85 has historically claimed judges, journalists, and business leaders, and Catholic politicians who served Utah, including Bishop Lawrence Scanlan, Bishop Duane Hunt, and the long sequence of Cathedral of the Madeleine pastors, worked closely with the Knights of Columbus state council. Olympic athletes who trained at the Utah Olympic Park have appeared at fraternal benefit events, and Utah Jazz alumni have lent support to Elks Hoop Shoot and Knights of Columbus charity events.

Frequently Asked Questions: Utah Fraternal Lodges

Sources & Further Reading

• https://www.elks.org/lodges/
• https://www.utahelks.org/
• https://www.kofc.org/
• https://www.utahknights.org/
• https://www.mooseintl.org/
• https://www.foe.com/
• https://www.dioslc.org/
• https://history.utah.gov/
• https://www.lionsclubs.org/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Utah