Lodge History

by Hal Moreno in 1992

Three score and nine years ago [in 1923] there was founded in this city a great Elks Lodge, conceived in liberty and freedom, and dedicated to the principles of charity, justice, brotherly love and fidelity.  No, I am not going to quote the Gettysberg address - this is just a way of saying that the Palo Alto Elks Lodge was founded in 1923 in downtown Palo Alto, with the help of our sister lodge from San Mateo.  The lodge was originally formed with 100 members, 51 of whom were brand new members and 49 of whom were transfers from San Mateo.  Their names are inscribed on the charter directly behind the [Exalted Ruler's] podium.  (Contrary to popular belief, my name is not inscribed on this charter.)

Our first meeting place was the Native Sons Hall in downtown Palo Alto, on the corner of Emerson Street and Hamilton Avenue.  After a few years we moved to the University Pharmacy building on the corner of University Avenue and High Street.

In the early years, many local businessmen joined the Lodge and we began to grow and grow.  However by the year 1929 the country was in a depression, and our membership suffered greatly.  We managed to survive and grow, and in a few years we outgrew our quarters.  In 1937 we moved way out in the countryside to a place known as Millers Restaurant.  Today that restaurant is known as Rickey's Hyatt House.

In 1941, our farsighted Board of Trustees purchased 6 acres of the property on which we are now located - and we paid the exorbitant price of $1,000 per acre for the property.   Construction on the new building was begun in 1941 [picture at right shows the groundbreaking ceremony].   We purchased material from a local contractor, Mr. Wells P. Goodenough, who was a Brother Elk, at cost.   All labor for the original building was donated by our Brothers.  We moved into the building in 1942 and held a mortgage burning ceremony in 1943 [see picture at left].  We have never had to place a mortgage on our property since then.

By this time the United States was in World War II, and many of our brothers entered the armed forces and served with great distinction.  We did not begin our next period of rapid growth until 1946 when our Brothers returned from the service.

In 1946 we had one of the greatest fund raising devices you could ever imagine - slot machines!  These one-armed bandits raised a lot of money for our charitable activities.  Unfortunately the Attorney General declared slot machines to be illegal, and we were forced to send our machines to Nevada and resort to more conventional means to raise money for our charities.

The original building was about one-third of the size of the present building.  It consisted of the lobby, dining room, kitchen, members bar, card room, pool room and the lodge room.  Our membership increased rapidly after World War II, and by the mid-fifties we undertook our first major expansion program.  We added the ballroom and Lanai, built the outdoor swimming pool and picnic grove.  By the year 1967 we undertook another major expansion program which included building our downstairs athletic facilities, enlarging the members bar and pool room, adding the upstairs offices and remodeling the Lodge Room.

Today we have grown from a humble beginning of 100 members to over 2,000 members.   Each and every one of us is proud to be a member of Palo Alto Elks Lodge #1471.

Thank You.