Formal Organization and Name

The Order of the Elks was formally organized February 16, 1868, in the City of New York. Its full corporate name is “Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the United States of America.” Its declared purposes are to practice its four cardinal virtues, Charity, Justice, Brotherly Love, and Fidelity; to promote the welfare and enhance the happiness of its members; to quicken the spirit of American patriotism; and to cultivate good fellowship.

The animal from which the Order took its name was chosen because a number of its attributes were deemed typical of those to be cultivated by members of the fraternity. The elk is distinctively an American animal that lives in herds. It is the largest of our quadrupeds, it is yet fleet of foot and graceful in movement. It is quick and keen of perception; and while it is usually gentle and even timorous, it is strong and valiant in defense of its own. A representation of the majestic head of the male with its spreading antlers was adopted as the first badge of the Order and is still the most adopted as the first badge of the Order and is still the most conspicuous element of its copyrighted, fraternal emblem.

The Elks’ Colors

The Elk colors are Royal Purple and White, a combination deriving its origin from the history of the clergy, nobility and the people. Throughout Europe, the Orient and in Rome, the symbolism of colors was associated with severity of laws and customs. Each color in each pattern was identified religious, or political, and to change or alter it was a crime of rebellion, a desertion of principles, party or cause. White denotes purity and absolute truth. When combined with Royal Purple it signifies the love of truth and the highest degree of virtue. Purple indicates the favor of the people, which bespeaks the status of Elkdom.

(From “An Authentic History of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks” by Charles Edward Ellis)

A Brief History of the Origins of the Order of Elks

(This was copied from a publication from Bath Lodge #1547, N.Y. by Exalted Ruler William Kastner, December 1986)

The Story, always interesting, is the story of the expansion of a dream of brotherhood into the greatest of American Fraternities.

On Friday, November 15th , 1867, Charles A. Vivian, an English comic singer, landed in New York via an English trading vessel from South Hampton. On the night of his arrival he dropped into the Star Hotel, a “Free and Easy” kept by John Ireland on Lispenard street near Broadway. Richard R. Steirly, also of English birth, was a piano player at the Star Hotel. Vivian struck up an acquaintance with him and volunteered to sing a few songs. He made such an impression on John Ireland that the latter sent for his friend, Robert Butler, manager of the “American Theater” on Broadway. Vivian sang for Butler, making such a hit that he was engaged for a three week’s run at the American. When closing time came at the Star Hotel, Steirly took Vivian around to his boarding house at 188 Elm Street, kept by Mrs. Giesman, There he found a collection of congenial spirits, among them William Bowron, who also knew Vivian in his native land, *** The streets in that section of New York have been re-plotted and their names changed so that the plot known as “188 Elm Street” can now be found on LaFayette Street in the block between Broome and spring Streets, In 1939 the Council of the City of New York passed the following resolution: “Be it resolved… that the two blocks remaining on Elm Street be known as Elk Street to pay tribute to the famous Order of Elks which was founded on that Street in the year 1867.”

On November 23rd , 1867, Dick Steirly went to the American Theater to take notes for the purpose of orchestrating some of Vivian’s songs. After the matinee, Vivian took Steirly over to Sandy Spencer’s place at Broadway and Fulton Street, There they met Hughley Dougherty, Cool Burgess and Henry Vandemark. The latter suggested that the party shake dice for the refreshments. Vivian replied that he never handled the cubes, but would show them a new game. Calling for three corks he gave one each to Steirly and Vandemark, keeping the other for himself, He asked Cool Burgess to be the judge and Dougherty to count to three. They rehearsed the trick of each dropping his cork on the bar and picking it up as rapidly as possible, several times, the idea conveyed to initiated being that the last man to lift his cork was to buy. Vivian then gave the word of command, Dougherty counted, He and Steirly passed their hands over their corks while Vandemark, eager to lift his cork from the bar, was both first and last to pick it up, and consequently was stuck for the round. This was the first introduction of a delectable form of amusement which became popular.

Birth of the Jolly Corks

At about this time the Excise Law was being strictly enforced and Sunday in New York City was a very dry day. Devotees of the cork trick formed the habit of congregating at Mrs. Giesman’s on this day to hold social conventions under the inspiring influences of a stock of beer laid in the night before. This little coterie styled itself the “Corks”, with Vivian as the “Imperial Cork”.

The revels of the Jolly crew meeting at Mrs. Giesman’s became disturbing to the other boarders and she finally required them to forego their Sunday gatherings in her house. Quarters were found at 17 Delancy Street, over a saloon kept by Paul Sommers, where the meetings were continued, The object of the ?Corks? at this time was entirely convivial, it?s membership was composed of professional and semi-professional entertainers with a sprinkling of legitimate actors. Among the latter were Thomas Riggs, George McDonald, William Sheppard and George Thompson, a theatrical agent. When the cork trick was tried on McDonald it amused him so that he called the coterie the “JOLLY CORKS,” and as such it has gone down upon the pages of history, In the latter part of December just before the holidays, they were returning from a funeral of a friend, Ted Quinn, when McDonald suggested that the “Jolly Corks” become a protective and benevolent society. At the meeting held on the 2nd of February, 1868, presided over by Charles A. Vivian, George McDonald offered a motion to organize the “Jolly Corks” as a lodge along benevolent and fraternal lines and providing a committee be appointed to formulate rules and regulations for it’s government, prepare a suitable ritual, and select a new name. Vivian having in mind an English organization, “The Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffalos,” but the majority were desirous of bestowing a distinctively American title upon the new organization. A committee visited Cooper Institute Library, where the Brothers found the ELK described in a work on Natural History as an animal “fleet of foot, timorous of doing wrong, but ever ready to combat in defense of self or of the female of the species”. This description appealed to the committee as containing admirable qualities for emulation by members of a benevolent fraternity and the title “ELK” was incorporated in its report.

Birth of the Order of the Elks

On February 16, 1868, the committee reported, recommending that the “Jolly Corks” be merged into the “Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks” and the recommendation was adopted by a vote of eight (8) to seven (7). Listed below are those who voted for what name.

For “BUFFALO”: Charles A. Vivian; Richard Steirly; M.G. Ash; Henry Vandermark; Harry Bosworth; Frank Langhorne; E. W. Platt.

For “ELK”: George McDonald; George Thompson; Thomas Riggs; William Carleton; William Sheppard; George Guy; Hugh Dougherty; William Bowron.

The Death of Charles A. Vivian and Division in the Elks

Before passing from this branch of the resume of Elks History, it will not be inappropriate to mention the death of Brother Vivian. With the beginnings of the B.P.O.E. a breech was opened between two factions within the ranks, which rapidly developed into a feud. On one hand were the legitimate actors, endeavoring to invest the new organization with principals and ideas in keeping with a benevolent and fraternal institution, while on the other were the semi-professional entertainers more in sympathy with the original purposes of the convivial “Jolly Corks.”

Charles Vivian was the leader of the latter faction, and when he appeared for the second degree on 14 June 1868, the professionals who were in command ordered a ballot and he was rejected. At the same time a number of Vivian’s friends were barred from the meeting and afterwards declared expelled. This incident ended Vivian’s connection with the B.P.O. Elks. He died in Leadville, Colorado, March 20, 1880, twelve years later, of Pneumonia. On April 28, 1889, the remains of Charles Vivian were exhumed and taken to Boston, under the auspices of Boston Lodge # 10, where they rest in Mt. Hope Cemetery. As far as can be learned from personal friends, Vivian never claimed to have been an ELK. He did claim to have been one of the organizers of the Elks, which he was, but he never took the degrees of the Order, and severed all connections with it a few months after it was born.

Elks History with Race and Gender

Elks and People of Color:

The cardinal principles of Elkdom, “Charity, Justice, Brotherly Love and Fidelity” were non-inclusive during the first 100 years of the BPOE for men of color and 125 years for women. Lodge 17 recognizes our past injustices and pledges to be more inclusive in the future through recruitment and engagement of members who reflect the Greater Denver Community and by supporting causes intrinsic to our community makeup and identified needs.

The Elks (BPOE) was originally founded as an all-white, all-male organization in 1868, as was common practice for many social clubs during that time. The fraternal order, as we now know it derived from a social club made up of Vaudeville minstrels, many of whom, regretfully performed in blackface. The social club, The Jolly Corks, was quickly supplemented by 1870 by a charitable works arm that gave support to widows and Veterans, but did not admit people of color, nor women as members.

Denver Lodge 17 Diversity Statement – adopted in 2019 and revised in 2021:

Click Here to Read Our Diversity Statement

The Improved Benevolent Protective Order of the Elks of the World (IBPOEW)

https://www.ibpoew.org/

Two Black men, having been denied entry into the BPOE in 1898, were determined to form an organization to qualified individuals without regard to race, creed, or ethnicity. Having discovered the Elks ritual was not copyrighted, the IBPOEW filed and were granted a copyright for it and on November 17, 1898, the first meeting of the “Black Elks” was held. The BPOE were angered by the use of the seal and pin, but by 1918, this opposition ended. This historically Black non-profit charitable fraternal organization is still operating. The IBPOEW was modeled after the BPOE. Its stated purpose is “that the welfare and happiness of its members be promoted and enhanced, that nobleness of soul and goodness of heart be cultivated, that the principles of charity, justice, brotherly & sisterly love, and fidelity be inculcated, that its members and their families be assisted and protected, and that the spirit of patriotism be enlivened and exalted.”

AAREG: aregistry.org/story/the-black-elks-a-home-away-from-home/

It was not until the early 1970s, that the exclusionary policy of the BPOE led the Order into conflict with the courts over its refusal to allow black people the use of its club and leisure activities. See. McGlotten v. Connally, 338 F. Supp. 448 (D.D.C. 1972); Cornelius v. Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, 382 F. Supp. 1182 (D. Conn.1974).  The decision in McGlotten indicated certain governmental support of private clubs is not permitted either by the 1964 Civil Rights Act or the Constitution.  New Test for Suits Seeking to Halt Governmental Support to Private Discriminating Organizations – Impermissible State Action”. U. Colo. L. Rev. 44(1973–1974): 447.  [AS6] A resolution to repeal the discriminatory clause of the national constitution of the Elk lodge passed in 1973.

IBPOEW Lodges still exist today and commonly refer to their Lodges ‘Black Elks’. Any members of of an IBPOEW Lodge are welcome at Denver #17 and we encourage our Lodges and members to learn more about each other and work together for the betterment of the community.

The Improved Benevolent Protective Order of Elks of the World was granted a copyright as an organization on September 28, 1898, in Cincinnati, Ohio. A Pullman porter, Arthur James Riggs, and Benjamin Franklin Howard, who were both members of another fraternal organization discovered they both had dreams of forming an Elks organization for people of color. Their dreams and plans were realized when the first Lodge, Alpha Lodge No. 1, was organized in Cincinnati as a result of their efforts. As the Elks prevailed, the organization struggled against many racist attitudes and legal efforts to deny the existence of the Improved Benevolent Protective Order of Elks of the World.