Archives West Finding Aid

Moscow Lodge 249 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks is the oldest lodge in the state of Idaho. It had its beginnings on December 28, 1892, when a contingent of Spokane Elks, Exalted Ruler George Turner presiding, officiated in chartering the new lodge. Thirty two charter members were initiated in the meeting which took place in the I.O.O.F. Hall. The first officers were: C.S. Scott, exalted ruler; J.H. Forney, lecturing knight; I.C. Hattabaugh, leading knight; P. Tillinghast, loyal knight; R.S. Brown, treasurer; Morgan Tillinghast, secretary; the Rev. P. Murphy, chaplain; George N. Hinckley, inner guard, and John Almquist, tiler.

The lodge did not have its own home until 1905, when a temple was built at the corner of First and Main at a cost of $20,000. The Two Forty-Niner, the lodge newsletter, reported that when the building was finished, "the bondholders held a jubilee and burned most of the bonds, thus putting the lodge in good financial shape."

By 1920 the membership had grown from the original 35 to 750. World War I took the lives of two members, C. Boyd Maynard and William M. Green, and affected the lodge in other ways, as the newsletter pointed out: "During the Great War the lodge practically ceased lodge work. The temple was turned over to the S.A.T.C. boys as a convalescent hospital and but two meetings were held during the winter of 1918."

Things began to pick up after the war. A bowling alley was installed in the temple in 1916, and a band, organized in 1920, began providing music for important occasions. In keeping with the Elks emphasis on American traditions and ideals, the lodge initiated Flag Day ceremonies on June 18, 1922. World War II did not have the drastic effect of World War I. In 1941 the lodge purchased the nine-hole Moscow Golf Club and in 1942 completed some remodeling of the temple. Extensive remodeling of the Elks Temple was conducted in 1962, and a new clubhouse was constructed at the golf course in 1967.