Waynesburg Moose to celebrate centennial anniversary
Moose Lodge 461, located at 140 South Morgan St. in Waynesburg, will be celebrating its 100th anniversary during the week of Feb. 23-28. To commemorate the anniversary, the lodge is planning special events open to members and their guests throughout the week.
On Monday, Feb. 23, the public is invited to view a special anniversary exhibit on the second floor of the Moose lodge. The exhibit displays a wide array of artifacts chronicling the Moose’s long history, including the many awards, accolades and honors the lodge has received over the years.
Another item on display at the Moose’s historical exhibit is the ceremonial altar that was used during special meetings in the past. The exhibit also features building blueprints, trophies, old photos and records, certifications and plaques, programs and pamphlets, honor rolls and pictures of past presidents and senior regents.
An undated honor roll listing members of service at the Moose lodge is also on display as part of the historic exhibit that will be available for public viewing on Feb. 23.
WAYNESBURG – On Wednesday, Feb. 25, Moose Lodge #461 in Waynesburg turns 100 years old. To celebrate the momentous milestone, the lodge is planning a week-long schedule of events next week.
From noon to 5 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 23, the public is invited to view a special anniversary exhibit on the second floor of the lodge, which is located at 140 S. Morgan Street. Admission is free.
“We’ll have photos from the past, ceremonial furniture, old blueprints of the building and items that pertain to the lodge, past governors and members,” said John Van Meter, acting Moose Governor. “We’ll also have trophies from our various sports programs, a copy of our charter and a display of items from our women’s chapter.”
Tuesday evening, the lodge will hold its weekly steak dinner (New York strip, baked potato, rolls and butter and salad bar) from 6 to 8 p.m. To help celebrate the anniversary, the lodge will add crab legs to the menu.
On Wednesday, the actual anniversary date, the lodge will hold a cake cutting ceremony at 6 p.m. in which Moose dignitaries from the state level are expected to present the lodge with a 100-year certificate.
On Thursday, instead of the weekly special of wings and fries, the lodge will offer free pizza from 6 to 8 p.m., and on Friday, Feb. 27, anniversary week will climax with a free fish fry (fries and cole slaw included) from 6 to 8 p.m.
Currently, Lodge 461 has approximately 2,200 members who pay annual dues of $40. New members pay an additional $20 application fee. The 2014-2015 elected officers are Bob Simpson, now deceased, Governor; Mike Harmon, administrator; John Van Meter, Junior Governor and Acting Governor; Douglas Higgins, Junior Past Governor; Robert Teagarden, Treasurer; Cody Black, Prelate; George Kelley, Stan John and Mike Beabout, Trustees; and Bill Baxendell, Sergeant-at-Arms.
Officers for the women’s Chapter No. 888 are Beverly Kelley, Senior Regent; Mamie Hopkins, Regent; Elizabeth Higgins, Grand Regent; Gwen Simpson, Secretary-Treasurer; Tina Laskody, Chaplain; and Katie Keller, Recorder.
Although the lodge’s roots go back to 1907 when a group of men first met in a horse boarding stable on Morgan Street, the Waynesburg Moose wasn’t chartered until February 25, 1915. Moose rules, at that time, stated that in order to be officially chartered, a lodge had to have at least 50 members.
“To raise money, the original members charged a nickel a day to board a horse in a building owned by Eleanor Spragg, whose husband, J. A. Spragg, was one of our original trustees,” said Mike Harmon, lodge administrator and Moose member for 17 years.
The first governor of Lodge 461 in Waynesburg was John J. Meek, and the wooden building served as the Moose lodge until 1939, when it was demolished. An all-brick building was built on the same site at 140 S. Morgan Street and completed in mid-1943. A new addition was constructed in 1982, which now houses the dining room and kitchen as well as additional space for the upstairs dining room.
The Loyal Order of the Moose was established in 1888 by Dr. John Henry Wilson in his home in Louisville, Kentucky. In 1906 Mr. James J. Davis became the 247th member of the Moose and quickly took over. Under his leadership, he made the fraternity into a force to provide protection and security for its working class membership at a time when government provided no safety net for families in need.
The Moose is a family organization that provides for children and the elderly in need. In 1913, the Mooseheart community was started about 40 miles west of Chicago Illinois. There, the Moose houses, feeds, clothes, schools, provides medical attention, religious teaching, and whatever else children who have no one else might need. More than 11,000 children have been cared for at Mooseheart since 1913. In 1915, the Moose began taking in elderly members. In 1922, Moosehaven was built on 26 acres of shoreline property in Florida and has since grown into a city of 70 acres where the elderly who have no one else are fed, housed, clothed, provided medical attention, and whatever else they might need. Over 3,000 people have been housed at Moosehaven since 1922.
In 1913, women were allowed to join the Moose. Eventually, they became the Women of the Moose and received formal recognition as the organization’s official counterpart. The Loyal Order of the Moose has over one million members today, and the Women of the Moose has around 400,000 members. It is now a worldwide organization with 2,400 lodges and 6,000 women’s chapters in all 50 states, as well as in Canada, Great Britain, and Bermuda.
While the primary goal of all Moose Lodges is to support Mooseheart and Moosehaven, the Waynesburg lodge is also involved in a number of community projects.
“Our Christmas Tree on the Courthouse steps project is one of the most enjoyable of the year,” Van Meter said. “We cut our own tree, donated either by one of our members or a non-member. The tree goes up the first Saturday after Thanksgiving and stays up until the first Saturday after the New Year. Last year, the county hauled the tree in on its boom truck, and the Waynesburg Fire Department assisted in putting it in place on the courthouse steps.”
The lodge also sponsors a Little League baseball team each year, is active in the annual Relay for Life and contributes annually to the Special Olympics, the Boy and Girl Scouts, the Arthritis Association and various athletic teams. The lodge is noted for its lunches, with daily specials, Monday through Friday. It also awards a $1,000 scholarship to a student from one of the five Greene County school districts.
“We also have a lot of charitable events for individuals and organizations in the community,” Van Meter said.
The annual scholarship first started out as the Art Grey Memorial Scholarship and was awarded to a senior at Waynesburg Central High School. Since then it has evolved to become the Waynesburg Moose Lodge #461 Scholarship, awarded to a senior at one of the county’s five school districts and the Clay Battelle High School in nearby Blacksville, W.Va., the town where some of the lodge members reside.
“I am very proud to be a member of an organization that’s been located in Waynesburg for 100 years,” Van Meter said. “While some organizations come and go, we’ve managed to adapt to changing circumstances and continue to move into the future by bringing in younger members and encouraging them to become actively involved in our activities.”
Those interested in joining the Moose or getting more information should call 724-627-8028 or contact any member.