Nevada Elks Lodge No. 564 -- More than a century of service

Editor's Note: The following column originally appeared in the Sept. 17, 1999 edition of the Nevada Daily Mail.

On March 15, 2000, the Nevada Elks Lodge No. 564 will commemorate its 100th anniversary with celebrations and historical notices.

The anniversary cannot be much more exciting than its origin, which was written up in the March 16, 1900, edition of the Nevada Daily Mail as follows:

"The Elks they came, they saw, they conquered. They were the jolliest of fellows that Nevada has had the pleasure of entertaining for many a day.

"They came in droves, herds and in pairs and were received with open arms and entertained most royally by the Nevada Elks ..."

The newspaper account goes on to say that at the Hotel Mitchell they were served a menu of blue point on the half shell, celery, olives, sauterne, julianne soup, dill pickles. frankforts, sauerkraut, rye bread, white bread, Budweiser beer, fresh shrimp salad, long branch crackers, turkey, cranberry sauce, jelly, butter, crackers, coffee, water, rouquet cheese, cigars and brandy. Elks came from Sedalia, Carthage, Fort Scott, Joplin and other cities, some by special cars on the train.

The Sedalia group was led up Cherry Street to the Duck building (corner of Washington and Cherry) by their goat. Officers of the charter group of Elks included C.G. Burton as Exalted Ruler, WJ. Cochrase, W.T. Ballagh, S.W. Atkinson, J.F. Barr, H.M. Duck, E.H. Stettmund, W.M. Bowker, E.E. Bean, Jay Rinehart, Charles Sargent, J.M. Clack and C.F. Strohn.

This colorful beginning started years of service to the community. Operating out of the Duck building until 1966 when they moved to their present location on Centennial Blvd. the fraternal order has provided six local scholarships, student of the month and student of the year awards, plus scholarships to the young people who are in training at Camp Clark. The Elks are very involved with drug prevention among young students and sponsor the Red Ribbon Week. Each Halloween they have a Treats Without Tricks event, which treated more than 1,700 young people this past year.

One of the most outstanding recent events was sponsoring the Vietnam Memorial Moving Wall, which was set up on the grounds of their headquarters. About 12,000 people took advantage of this opportunity to see the replica of the Washington, D.C., Memorial.

Each year the local Elks honor their "OldTimers" those with at least 40 years of membership in the Elks. George Logan is the senior member, having been initiated Oct. 5, 1932.

This year the club was honored for the first time by having a National Officer. Carl Simpson is past state president and now is the special deputy grand exalted ruler.

In addition to the Halloween party, the Elks celebrate Christmas each year by adopting more than 50 families, presenting them with Christmas baskets of food and gifts.

There is a long history of helping youth in the area. Among these activities have been sponsorship of Boy Scout Troop No. 57, an Elks Bowling League, Little League Baseball, supporting the youth fair by purchasing two hogs each year, and planting 10,000 trees at the Elks Lake eight miles north of Nevada. The lake is the scene of an annual fish fry, trap shoots and scouting functions. The Elks Bingo Hall has recently been completed on their grounds. This activity has created some of the funds for their charitable work.

Among the local membership, there is a family of a father, Willard Bond, and each of his six sons, Jason Lane, Bobby Dale, James, Jeff, Keyin and Tim, all of whom are active members of the Nevada Lodge.

The present officers are: Exalted Ruler Don Hammontree; Esteemed Leading Knight Bo Bogart; Esteemed Loyal Knight Phil Thompson; Esteemed Lecturing Knight Dan Thomasson; Tiler Larry Brown; Lodge Secretary Val Villamaria; Lodge Treasurer, C. Myrl Church; Trustees Joe Villamaria, Jerry Brendlinger and Clifford Cartwright; Chaplain Joe Hammontree; Esquire Mike Woody; Inner Guard Bob Hammontree; Missouri Elks State Historian Lee Sparks; Vice President. Bo Bogart; and the Grand Lodge Grand Esquire and S.D.G.E.R., Carl Simpson.

Throughout the 100-year history, the membership has included familiar names from the leadership of the community beginning with E.E. Bean who was editor of the Nevada Daily Mail in 1900 and who wrote the quoted articles and gave one of the many speeches at the original meeting. It was titled "What Would Jesus Do With a Newspaper in Nevada, Mo.?" The state historian, Lee Sparks, who provided the information for this article had several exhibit cases full of memorabilia of the local and national Elks lodges. He states that the Elks are the largest fraternal organization in the country.