My grandfather was an Odd Fellow and while reading about the organization I came across this statement on Wikipedia about the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (The US organization, not the original British one):
“…According to the Journal of the Annual Communication of the Sovereign Grand Lodge 1922, page 426, there were a reported 2,676,582 members. While this data from 1921 may not be the exact zenith of its membership, the organization experienced a loss in membership of 23.5% between 1920 and 1930, explained in large part by the development of the commercial insurance industry and has continually declined.”
So why would the emergence of commercial insurance cause a decline in membership? One thing I can think of is that one benefit of the Odd Fellows was that “charity” was one of their founding principles. Perhaps members had relied on this charity during hard times and insurance provided a better solution?
These sorts of fraternal organizations have all declined pretty significantly I don’t believe that the Odd Fellows are special in that regard. One nice thing about the organizations is that you could get group insurance though them and maybe a lot of people were members for that reason akin to people today staying in jobs for the health insurance.
Organizations like that also served as a form of self-insurance by pooling self-interested people together to bear the weight of unexpected expenses.
The Independent Order of Odd Fellows features in the recent documentary about Robert Putnam’s “Bowling Alone”, about the decline of membership and personal involvement in America. It’s on Netflix and well worth a watch.
Fraternal orders such as the Odd Fellows (and the Knights of Pythias, the Loyal Order of Moose, and the Improved Order of Red Men, among others) had as part of their basic membership a set of benefits for sickness and disability. If a member were unable to work due to injury or illness, he (and it was always he, back then) notified his local lodge, who sent out a committee of members to ascertain he really was laid up and not just malingering, and then he and his family received a weekly benefit until such time as he could return to work (or the committee decided he could, anyway). This was built into the membership fee and the local lodge finances.
There are various theories as to why fraternal order membership declined, but certainly the growth of commercial, union- and company-sponsored, and government insurance programs (mandatory worker’s compensation programs, for example, and later disability benefits) played a role. People who joined solely or mostly for the insurance found other sources.
Some other fraternal orders (e.g., the Woodmen of the World) emphasized life insurance, and sickness benefits were an optional extra benefit. There were also orders (e.g., the Masons and the Elks) that did not include any stipulated benefits, but would give assistance on a discretionary basis to “worthy” members.
I have nothing helpful to add, but I will mention that, for several years, my employer’s offices were in the Odd Fellows Building in Raleigh, NC. It’s a 10-story building built in 1923. It’s now also referred to as the Commerce Building.
TIL these fraternal organizations had an actual function. I always thought they were just clubs for people (primarily, exclusively? - men) to get away from their spouse and kids and homelife and job to hang out for a while and unwind or let-off steam. Also to wear a cool hat.
Never heard of this one-the name evokes a bunch of guys who would put fake arrows on their heads and spend a lot of their time in their meetings singing the Camelot Song (or maybe the latter is what the Knights of Pythias do).
Note that many orders had affiliated women’s groups. In the case of IOOF they are called Rebekahs. Met in the same lodge facilities as the men’s.
(The tiny town I lived in when I was quite young had a IOOF lodge that most belonged to. I just checked the state web site and it’s still listed as active. The president has the same last name as my best friend in 1st grade.)
My grandfather was a member. I understood that the name was because the group catered to men who didn’t fit into religious or ethnic groups, like the Masons, Knights of Columbus, Orange Order, etc. They were the odd men out, and started their own group.
You could spend the night at some of the lodges. This was very useful if you were a sales rep with a large territory. Also many of the members had careers in the trades or professions and they’d refer one another.
I don’t think the Freemasons fit in that list. The Knights of Columbus are an explicitly Catholic fraternity, and the Orange Order is explicitly Protestant (and very much so - see its role in Northern Ireland). The Freemasons don’t see themselves as affiliated with any particular religion or denomination; there may be a Protestant majority among them, but that’s because the Catholic Church was, for a very long time, opposed to freemasonry. From the Masons’ side, being Catholic is not an obstacle to joining.
Churches, too, for some similar reasons. People recreate a lot differently today and regular group settings (the third place) are trending down for decades.
Well, they do require you believe in a supreme being, so not everyone can join. A friend of mine who’s a Freemason said he’d invite me to join, but he knew I was an atheist. Also, he knew I’d just be joining so I could work my way into riding the go-karts in parades.
I don’t think having a completely separate group that can’t mix with the men is allowing women. They also could only be wives and daughters of men who were members.
This was my impression, and Fred and Barney hanging out with the Buffalo bunch during my youth did little to disabuse me of that notion. (There really was an order of “Moose”??) I also suspect they harken to a different time, before womens lib, when the men who worked together fraternized together and drank together, and women were not part of their working world - except as secretaries.
Mooses definitely allow women. My friend is a Moose and I had lunch at the lodge with him and a few of our pals. They had a wall with pictures of past presidents and a recent one was a woman. They had a kitchen and a bar and I got an inexpensive greasy burger and fries.
Part of how they make revenue is by renting out their ballroom for events. There is one room off to the back that is for members only. Guests are allowed in the rest of the area if with a member.
Fred and Barney weren’t Mooses, they were Water Buffaloes.