We are part of a fraternal and service organization of more than 1.5 million men and women dedicated to bettering the lives of children, the elderly, and the local community by providing various activities for the entire family at a modest cost. Woburn is located about 10 miles north of Boston. We hope you enjoy your visit to our site.
Though the Moose fraternal organization was founded in the late 1800s with the modest goal of offering men an opportunity to gather socially, it was reinvented during the first decade of the 20th century into an organizational dynamo of men and women who set out to build a city that would brighten the futures of thousands of children in need all across North America.
When Dr. John Henry Wilson, a Louisville, Ky., physician, organized a handful of men into the Loyal Order of Moose in the parlor of his home in the spring of 1888, he and his compatriots did so apparently for no other reason than to form a string of men's social clubs. Lodges were instituted in Cincinnati, St. Louis, and the smaller Indiana towns of Crawfordsville and Frankfort by the early 1890s, but Dr. Wilson himself became dissatisfied and left the infant order well before the turn of the century. It was just the two remaining Indiana Lodges that kept the Moose from disappearing altogether, until the fall of 1906, when an outgoing young government clerk from Elwood, Ind., was invited to enroll into the Crawfordsville Lodge. It was on James J. Davis' 33rd birthday, October 27, that he became just the 247th member of the
Loyal Order of Moose. Davis, a native of Wales who had worked from boyhood as an "iron puddler" in the steel mills of Pennsylvania, had also been a labor organizer and immediately saw potential to build the tiny Moose fraternity into a force to provide protection and security for a largely working-class membership. At the time, little or no government "safety net" existed to provide benefits to the wife and children of a breadwinner who died or became disabled. Davis proposed to "pitch" Moose membership as a way to provide such protection at a bargain price; annual dues of $5 to $10. Given a green light and the title of "Supreme Organizer," Davis and a few other colleagues set out to solicit members and organize Moose Lodges across the U.S. and southern Canada.
After careful consideration of numerous sites, the Moose Supreme Council in late 1912 approved the purchase of what was known as the Brookline Farm--more than 1,000 acres along the then-dirt surfaced Lincoln Highway, between Batavia and North Aurora on the west side of the Fox River, about 40 miles west of Chicago. Ohio Congressman John Lentz, a member of the Supreme Council, conceived the name "Mooseheart" for the new community: “This," he said, "will always be the place where the Moose fraternity will collectively pour out its heart, its devotion and sustenance, to the children of its members in need." So it was on a hot summer Sunday, July 27, 1913, that several thousand Moose men and women gathered under a rented circus tent toward the south end of the new property and placed the cornerstone for Mooseheart.
Much more information on the history of Moose International can be found by visiting their website at www.mooseintl.org
A true story about a bunch of loving people who made
a true difference in many peoples lives!!
The Moose was a hang out spot where people would go down sometimes with their friends and have fun. But no kids where allowed there and many never went there! There were not many members. They were barely nominated for any Moose awards like the shining start award. But it was a bunch of people who would keep the Moose together. Parties were thrown up stairs and trust me I remember! They soon decided that they wanted to have a better and stronger Moose that most people would want to be a part of. They soon found a large building that was a dentist office with many rooms. This was located on four Federal Street. Again the same bunch of people with many more joined together and ripped apart the wall, the ceilings, everything! It looked like no one had ever had a business there! Soon more and more people were joining to help, and boy did that work! The progress was quicker but not that quick to finish fast. But that was no big deal. They soon finished the down stairs! That was just the beginning! It soon spread to a quick hang out spot! Now many people were helping they did the whole up stairs all by themselves, not the painting but everything else. They were soon done going down there everyday, but not everyone. They came up with better ways to attract families by Kids X-mas parties, Halloween, and stuff like spaghetti dinners with movies on Thursdays. They soon attracted elderly with elderly dinners. The Moose was coming along! Families started coming! Then on a Moose convention the Woburn Moose members were called up to the floor they announced that they had become a family center! “We did it” we screamed! Tears of joy ran down our faces after all the hard work it finally paid off! Soon after the Moose was nominated for the Shining Star award, again pride and joy took place! But the Moose didn’t win that award but they were still happy about being nominated! So thank you everyone who I talked about in this story and everyone else who made us successful! THANK YOU!
It is with great pleasure and pride that Women of the Moose International Headquarters announces "Spinoza, the Bear who Speaks from the Heart" as our International Community Service Project
