PARTICIPATING IN an Elks Minstrel Show here Feb.22, 1904 were (left to right, rear) Alec McCarthy, Frank McCarthy, Henry Linneman, Will Koop and Gene McCarthy. (Middle row) Charles McCarthy, Ed Murphy, Dr. John Thabes, Sr., Henry Dunn, H. P. Valentine, Clifton Aibright and Fred Sanborn,. (Front row) E. C. Griffith, Sam Alderman, Charles Wilson, A. L. Mattes, C. C. Kyle, Joseph Murphy. (Boys, left and right) Werner Henistead and Frank Johnson.

With a membership of 65 men, Brainerd Lodge 615, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, was organized here on Aug. 23, 1900. First meeting was held in Gardner's Hall.

The national organization had its founding some 32 years earlier. An Englishman, Charles Algernon Sidney Vivian, is credited with establishing the Elks in this country. The constitution calls for aims of charity, justice, brotherly love and fidelity.

A. J. Halsted was elected first Exalted Ruler of the Brainerd Lodge with F. E. Lowe as secretary, Halsted served from 1900 to 1902, and Lowe from the founding date until 1905.

Following Halsted were J. T. Sanborn, A. L. Mattes and C. D. Johnson. Secretaries a ft e r Lowe included J. R. Smith, Charles S. Rattinger and Frank G. Hall.

Early in the organization's history, land was purchased at Seventh and Maple, but was sold 10 years later. The present site on Laurel Street was purchased for $25,000, and construction begun in July of 1926.

By dedication time, April 23, 1927, the Elks Lodge had spent $165,000 on construction and furnishings. In 1944, a three-day celebration marked the retiring of final mortgages, and four years later, a $100,000 remodeling was necessitated by the rapidly growing membership in the Lodge.

The Elks here share in the state and national achievements of their organization which include sponsorship of the State Elks Youth Camp on Pelican lake for youngsters from nine to 14; college scholarships and grants, annual Christmas parties for needy children, aid to the handicapped, veteran hospital entertainment and therapy programs and others.

When the Brainerd Elks lodge joined in the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the organization in 1968, there were 11 local Lodge members who had been part of the group for 50 years or more. They included: A. Frank Anderson, James H. Alderman, Thomas J. Baldwin, J. C. Cunningham, Benson E. Durham, Gust A. Oberg, Lambert Pancratz, Edward L. Rogers, William Turcotte, Clarence Tucker and Claude Tucker. Present Exalted Ruler of the Brainerd Elks lodge is Al Schlegel.