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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 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.
Over 100 years of Fraternal Service
THE STORY OF THE EAGLES is a story of fraternal
crusading. There is something about the Fraternal Order of
Eagles that is different, distinctive, something not to be
found in any other Order,"
Since February of 1898, when the Order was founded by six
theater owners in a Seattle waterfront shipyard, the Eagles
not only welcomed the average man as a member, but fought for
his right to a life of dignity and self-respect. To call the
roll of early Eagle crusades -- for Workmen's Compensation
Act, Mother's Pensions, Old Age Pensions and Social Security
Laws - is to know what the Hoosier Congressman Louis Ludlow
had in mind when he said of the Order, "It reaches out and
tries to help in solving the distressing and difficult
problems of human relief."
As the late Franklin D. Roosevelt suggested
they be, Eagles' crusades are continuing.
"The pen I am presenting to the order is a
symbol of my approval of the Fraternity's vision and courage,"
said Roosevelt when he signed the Social Security Act on Aug.
14, 1935, and gave the pen he used to the Eagles. "May its
possession inspire your members to rededicate their efforts
and those of the fraternity to the insuring of such economic
and political conditions as well being a greater degree of
happiness to our people."
February 6 -- The anniversary of the founding
of the Eagles -- is a road marker, pointing the way to the
future as well as commemorating the progress that we have
made. To Eagle programs for Old Age Security, Cancer Research,
Youth Guidance and Inter-Faith Brotherhood must be added
resolute Eagle support for making democracy work and helping
freedom ‘ring round the world. For Eagledom, more than
anything else, is a dream -- the dream that ordinary men and
women everywhere are entitled to and shall enjoy the right to
life, to liberty and to the pursuit of happiness with some
reasonable chance of catching up to it in their lifetimes.
Fraternal Order of Eagles
Milestone of Eagle Progress
1904 On
February 7th Frank E. Hering made the first known public
plea for a nationwide observance for Mother's Day.
1908 Sponsored America's first Mother's Pension Law.
1911 Grand Worthy President Frank E. Hering during his travels
of the country pushes for a nationwide observance for Mother's
Day.
1911 Sponsored America's First Workmen's Compensation Laws.
1912 Grand Aerie approves statute urging Aeries to hold
Memorial Services on Mother's Day.
1914 U.S. President Woodrow Wilson by proclamation designates
the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day.
1923 Sponsored America's First Old Age Pension Law.
1923 25th
Anniversary
1925 The
Society of American War Mothers proclaim Frank E. Hering
"The Father of Mother's Day".
1926 Creation and Formation of Ladies Auxiliaries
1931 Plaque dedicated at the English Opera House to honor
Frank Hering's first public plea for a nationwide observance
for Mother's Day.
1935 Supported Enactment of Social Security Law.
1941 Dedicated "Eagle Dormitory" at Boy's Town, Nebraska.
1944 Established the Eagles Memorial Foundation.
1948 50th
Anniversary
1950 Financed the entrance of The
Chapel of the Four Chaplains.
1953 Established Eagle Haus in Free Berlin, Germany.
1957 Inaugurated Nation-wide "Jobs After 40" program.
1959 Established EAGLE-CARE Trade School in Naples, Italy.
Established Max Baer Heart Fund.
1960 Dedicated "Eagle Hall" at Home on the Range for Boys in
North Dakota.
1961 Dedicated "Eagle Village" in Florida as senior Eagle
retirement home.
1962 Established EAGLE-CARE Trade School in Abadan, Iran.
1963 Established "Eagle House" in Benyan, Turkey.
1964 Established "Eagle House" in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.
1965 Established "Eagle House" in Israel and Tunisia.
1966 Establishment of Ralph Bird Memorial Library at Eagle
Village.
1967 Establishment of Jimmy Durante Children's Fund.
1968 Established "Eagle House" in Columbia, South America.
1969 Established "Eagle House" in the Phillipine Islands.
1970 Established "Eagle Ridge Village" in Topeka, Kansas.
1971 Established "Max Schroeder Eagle House" in South Korea.
1972 Established Golden Eagle Fund.
1973 75th
Anniversary
1974 Established "Jimmy Durante
Eagle House" in Managua, Nicaragua.
1975 Initiated Blow the Whistle on Crime program.
1976 Instituted the first European Aerie.
1977 Established EAGLE-CARE Weaving Center in Guatemala.
1978 Established "Hubert H. Humphrey Eagles Care School" in
Honduras. Established Robert W. Hansen Diabetes Fund.
1979 First Telethon for Hughen School for Children in Point
Arthur, Texas.
1980 Eagles Bob Hope High School dedicated at Hughen School
for Children in Point Arthur, Texas.
1982 Eagles-CARE Poland Food Program.
1983 Max Baer Heart Fund offers first Grant. First Memorial
Foundation College Scholarship to graduate of Bob Hope High
School.
1984 $405,000 donated to Eagles Truman Cardiovascular Lab at
Research Medical Center, Kansas City. President Truman was a
Life-Time
Eagle member.
Golden Eagle Fund starts program of $5,000 Grants to
institutions doing Alzheimer's disease research.
1985 Eagles mark $1 million in donations to St. Jude's
Hospital. Established Child Abuse Hot Line at Child Help USA.
1986 Eagles launch "Crack down on Crack" drive. Contributions
to Eagles Max Baer Heart fund Research Lab at Sutter Medical
Research
Foundation reach
$600,000.
1987 Eagles-CARE drive to help the poor in Belize is launched.
Eagles honor the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National
Cemetery with a
plaque on February
2, 1987. Ground-breaking for 24 new cottages at Eagle Village.
1988 Matching Grants up to $500 offered Aerie/Auxiliary that
sponsor Drug Education Seminars.
1989 Eagles launch a drive to make desecration of the American
Flag a federal crime.
1990 Memorial foundation increases educational grant from
$3,000 to $4,000.
1991 Eagles drive to support our military in Operation Desert
Storm with mail and food packages.
1992 Eagles Mildred and Claude Pepper Foundation Co-Sponsor
Health Care Symposium.
1993 Eagles launch fund to aid Florida victims from hurricane
Andrew. Eagles launch flood relief to help people in the
Midwest flood
victims. Memorial
Foundation funds Scholarship Program at Chapel of the Four
Chaplains.
1994 The Eagles Donor Fund established.
1995 The Fraternal Order Eagles donate $50,000 for the Eagle
Alcove of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, Tidal Basin,
Washington,
D.C. . Roosevelt
was a lifetime member of the F.O.E..
1996 Dedication on February 27, 1996 of the Fraternal Order of
Eagles Memorial Plaque at the National Memorial Cemetery of
the Pacific,
Honolulu, Hawaii,
in honor of those who lost their lives in World War II.
1998 100th
Anniversary
1998
International Convention takes place. $1,000,000 given to
Charities at Grand Aerie Convention.
1999 Memorial Foundation establishes H.O.M.E. Fund and
G.R.E.A.T. program. April 29th is designated as Judge Bob
Hansen Day.
2001 Memorial Foundation establishes the "Attack on America
Fund" to assist the victims of the September 11th terrorist
attacks.
Memorial Foundation
extends medical and educational benefits to the families of
all members who lose their life on the job.
Eagles purchase
property to consolidate National Headquarters.
2002 F.O.E. International Headquarters opens in Grove City,
Ohio.
2003 Eagles are a major sponsor in the development of the
Military Tribute to Bob Hope located in San Diego, California.
2004 May 1st is designated
as “Child Advocacy Day”. "Where Eagles Fly" becomes
our theme song.
Implemented God
Flag and Country program for American and Canadian youth.
2005 Eagles re-dedicated Ten
Commandments monument at international headquarters; F.O.E.
generously supported development of a new
scoliosis brace
named the "Eagle Brace"; F.O.E. signed first year contract
with Braun Racing for FOE.com-sponsored care.
2006 Eagles worked with local government leaders to keep
"under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance; F.O.E. signed second
year contract with
Braun Racing and
announced opening of Race City Aerie in Mooresville, North
Carolina.
2007 Eagles supported American Eagle & Literary Challenge
in quest to name June 20 National Eagle Day.
2008 Eagles host Lobby Day and Capital Hill Champion of
Children Recepton for CARES Act.
Eagles partner with
The University of Iowa to fund research at The Fraternal Order
of Eagles Diabetes Research Center.
2009 Eagles make
first $5 million donation to The University of Iowa for The
Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center in Iowa City,
Iowa.
2010 Eagles attend 75th Anniversary
Celebration of the signing of the Social Security Act in New
York City. The second $5 million donation to The
University of Iowa
for The Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center is
made in Iowa City, Iowa.
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History of the Fraternal
Order of Eagles Auxiliary
The 1951 Grand Aerie
Convention was a watershed event in the history of the
Fraternal Order of Eagles. At that international
convention, held August 8-12 in Rochester, New York,
an amendment to the Grand Aerie Laws was unanimously
passed establishing a Grand Auxiliary.
It was what Past Grand Worthy President Lester Loble,
who was instrumental in the institution of the Grand
Auxiliary, called “a great moment in the history of
the Ladies’ Auxiliary of the Fraternal Order of
Eagles.”
To be sure, Eagles Auxiliaries existed long before
there was a Grand Auxiliary. The first one, at
Pittsburgh, Kansas, came into being on March 24, 1927,
and just three days later the second Auxiliary was
instituted at Frontenac, Kansas.
By March, 1951, there were 965 local Auxiliaries
boasting a combined total of approximately 130,000
members.
“The progress made in the last 24 years,” said Mrs.
Eagle magazine, which had been launched in 1948, “is a
solid foundation on which Eagle Auxiliaries must
continue to build.”
The building was done quickly and solidly. By late
‘51, there were 22 state and provincial Auxiliaries in
operation, and the time was ripe for an international
governing body for the distaff side of Eagledom.
At the 53rd Grand Aerie Convention in Rochester,
matters got underway at a Regional Membership
Department Banquet at the Seneca Hotel. In his
greetings, printed in the banquet program, Grand Aerie
Director M.L. Brown set the stage for the historic
occasion with these words:
“It is especially fitting that the F.O.E. Encourage
the upbuilding of the Ladies’ Auxiliaries of our
Order. The growth of the Ladies’ Auxiliaries is the
astonishment of the fraternal world. We welcome the
ladies and congratulate you on your outstanding
success and predict great things for your future.”
At that convention, state and provincial madam
presidents attended an all-day forum. Included were
Kay Guy of Pennsylvania, Alta Browning of Ohio, Carol
Bennett of California, Mary Dunn of Toronto, Ontario;
Phyllis Wright of Washington, and Mrs. Eagle magazine
editor Georgia Walker.
Following the forum, the abovenamed Sisters were
escorted into the Grand Aerie session and presented to
the assembly. Lester Loble, who spearheaded the
drafting of the legislation establishing the Grand
Auxiliary, introduced Alta Browning. According to the
lead story int he October, 1951 issue of Mrs. Eagle,
“...Pride shone on every woman’s face as she said, in
part: ‘The Ladies’ Auxiliaries of this Fraternity
thank you, our Brothers, for everything that you have
done for us through the years. We thank you, who are
the representatives of the Grand Aerie, for making it
possible for us to realize, in the near future, one of
our fondest dreams. We thank those delegates way back
in 1926 for recognizing our Ladies’ Auxiliaries. And
then we thank the delegates again a few years ago who
made our State Auxiliaries possible.
“We are very proud of the part that we have been able
to play in this Fraternity, and I am happy to pledge
for our Ladies’ Auxiliaries our support in all the
programs of the future that you may care to advance.”
It was, wrote Auxiliarian Gertrude M. Puelicher,
“truly a New Era for the women of Eagledom.”
At the 1952 Grand Aerie Convention in Philadelphia,
1,100 Eagle Sisters from virtually every American
state and Canadian province watched with tremendous
awe and pride as Lester Loble was escorted to the
platform in the Crystal Ballroom of the Benjamin
Franklin Hotel to officially institute the Grand
Auxiliary whose roots had been set down the year
before.
“My friends,” said Loble, “here in the City of
Brotherly Love, in the year 1952, you women of
Eagledom are gathered upon an extraordinary occasion.
Today is as historic as February 6, 1898, when the
Fraternal Order of Eagles came into being. From that
humble beginning, in a little more than half a
century, that meeting of six men in the Moran
shipyards has become the fastest-growing fraternal
order in the world, a humanitarian and patriotic
organization that has no equal.
“Today, the counterpart of that organization is born:
the Ladies’ Grand Auxiliary of the F.O.E. May its
future be as illustrious as the parent organization
from which it derives its being.”
SIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN AUXILIARY HISTORY
1926: Grand Worthy President Charles C. Guenther
issues Official Circular seeking action in regard to
the organization of Ladies Auxiliaries in the F.O.E.
March 24, 1927: Pittsburgh, Kansas, is the site of the
first Ladies Auxiliary institution. Frontenac, Kansas,
follows three days later.
March 29, 1927: Davenport, Iowa Auxiliary 235 is
instituted. Still going strong, Davenport is the
longest-surviving Auxiliary.
April 25, 1948: The first State/Provincial Auxiliaries
in Montana and Ohio are instituted on the same day.
August 8-12: Delegates to the 53rd Grand Aerie
Convention in Rochester, New York, approve
establishment of the Grand Auxiliary.
August 19, 1951: Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt becomes the
first woman to receive a life membership in the
Ladies’ Auxiliary in a special presentation at Hyde
Park, New York.
August, 1952: The Grand Auxiliary is officially
instituted in Philadelphia. Kay Guy of Irwin,
Pennsylvania, is charter Grand Madam President.
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