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. The city of Camden NJ, and one individual in particular, Ralph W.E. Donges, played a role in the Moose organization that is still bearing good fruit well over 90 years after the good deeds were done.

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. (In 1926, the Moose fraternity's presence extended across the Atlantic, with the founding of the Grand Lodge of Great Britain.)

Davis' marketing instincts were on-target: By 1912, the order had grown from 247 members in two Lodges, to a colossus of nearly 500,000 in more than 1,000 Lodges. Davis, appointed the organization's first chief executive with the new title of Director General, realized it was time to make good on the promise. The Moose began a program of paying "sick benefits" to members too ill to work--and, more ambitiously, Davis and the organization's other officers made plans for a "Moose Institute," to be centrally located somewhere in the Midwest that would provide a home, schooling and vocational training to children of deceased Moose members.

In Camden, Ralph W.E. Donges, like his father Dr. John Donges before him, became involved in politics and community affairs. On September 23, 1904 hew was named secretary of the First Congressional District branch of the Democrats. He had served as a legal aide to Woodrow Wilson prior to his election as president. An active member of several fraternal and professional organizations, he was already prominent in the Moose organization when he met the Vice-President Thomas Marshall on, Sunday, July 27, 1913. The purpose of the meeting was to arrange for Marshall to speak at the dedication of a home for fatherless children being started by the Loyal Order of Moose. Ralph Waldo Emerson Donges was presiding that year as Supreme Dictator. (The title of the fraternity's presiding officer was not changed to Supreme Governor until 1940.)

“I detest orphanages,” Marshall had irritably responded to Donges in initially trying to get out of the assignment. “When I was Governor of Indiana I was forced in the course of duty to visit a number of orphanages. I thought they were terrible places, and I won’t help you lay the cornerstone for another one.”

Donges, then 38, reassured the Vice President. “It will never be that kind of orphanage,” he said, referring to the dreary urban warehouses of abandoned children then common in the U.S.; places that got their income via donations from couples who would come to view children before selecting one to adopt. That’s not at all what the Moose were planning, Donges insisted: “It will be a home and school for the children of our deceased members.”

 The orphanage the Moose opened up in 1913 is the Mooseheart Child City and School, a residential childcare facility owned and operated by Moose International. Located on a 1,200-acre campus 38 miles west of Chicago, the Child City is a home for children and teens, from infancy through high school.

Besides Ralph W.E. Donges, many men from all walks of life in the city were members of Camden's Lodge. Postcards refer to the Moose Lodge as being on Federal Street. The Moose Lodge was at 635 Market Street by 1924, and a new lodge was dedicated at 808 Market Street in 1931. Thomas A. Colsey was chairman of the building committee at that time. 

By 1947 the Moose were quartered at 315 Cooper Street, remaining at that location through 1959. The Lodge moved to Cherry Hill in the 1960s.

In Camden the Moose sponsored a variety of civic and social activities, including amateur boxing tournaments during the Depression years.

In 2005 the Moose have no presence in Upper Camden County. There are, however, chapters in the surrounding towns of Burlington, Hainesport, Lindenwold, Clementon, and Paulsboro.

'HURRY UP BRIDE' OFFERED BY MOOSEt

The Moose Dramatic Club will present their twelfth musical comedy this evening when they offer "Hurry Up Bride" directed by George Scherer and George Stratton. 

Those having prominent roles include George Hess, George Simon, Tony Guilmo, Virginia Myers, Virginia Roth and Mary Colsey. The chorus, consisting of Agnes Black, Rose Simon, Sadie Colsey, Edna Blow, Eleanor Simon, Dorothy Curry, Dot LeFevre, Lillian Evans, Alice Haley, Anna Sweeten, Al Colsey and Joseph Stauts, will add to the entertainment. 

There will be dancing with music furnished by Al Pattison and Cavaliers after. the play. 

A benefit concert and ball will be given by the Thomas Jefferson Council, No. 138, of the Jr. Order of Mechanics, on Friday evening. 

The affair will be held in the Moose Hall, Camden, with the concert beginning at 8 o'clock. 

Charles E. Creswell is the chairman and is being assisted by Charles Wintling, Harry Schaefer, Frank Covely, John Knowles, Daniel Eckert and Albert Bartling. 

The Auxiliary of the Camden Lodge of Moose will install officers tonight at the lodge headquarters, Eighth and Market Streets, with members of the Trenton Moose auxiliary offilciating.

To be installed are Alice Dudley, past senior regent; Helen Maisch, senior regent; Lottie Ruright, junior regent; Margaret Lewis, chaplain; Sarah Carr, recorder; Rosina Hoover, treasurer; Anna Kohl, guard; May Peard, assistant guard; Sophie Blumenstetter, sentinel; Reba Timberlake, argus, and Helen Kane, pianist.

The ceremonies will be held in the auditorium beginning at 8.30 p.m. 

MOOSE TEAM SEEKS SECOND TRACK WIN
Opposes West Philaelphia in A.A.U. Tourney at Collingswood Tonight

The Camden Moose track and field, team will face its second opponent in the A. A. U. Tournament tonight when it engages West Philadelphia A.A., at the Collingswood High School athletic field.

Camden opened its campaign in the tourney last week and scored an easy victory over the Disabled Veteran. team. Tonight's events, of which there will be 10, will get under way at 6.15 o'clock.

West Philadelphia has one of the strongest teams in the tourney, and will be the supreme test for the charges of A. G. Ungerleider. Among the athletes who will compete for the invaders are Klemm and Detweiler, formerly of Penn, and Thornber, A. A. U. sprint champion.

The Quaker City team has other college athletes on its roster, and will be an even favorite to defeat the Moose tracksters. However, Camden's team also is formidable, and the meet is not expected to be decided by a large margin.

Irvin Johnson, Camden High School star, captured the 100 and 220-yard dashes in the first meet, and will be a strong contender for honors in those events tonight, although he faces a speedy opponent in Thornber.

Camden is considerably strong on the track, having Frank McFadden, former Camden Catholic High athlete, for the half-mile, and Bevados, of Camden High, in the mile test.

Bill Conover, captain of the local team, is expected to make a good showing in the field events, in which the Camden team is slightly weak. Conover won the high jump last week and placed in the broad-jump. The Moose team has created considerable interest and last week's meet was witnessed by a large crowd. No admission will be charged to the contest.

Another tournament meet tonight brings together Shanahan and Germantown, at the latter's grounds. 

ANNUAL BALL SLATED BY JEWISH FEDERATION

The fourteenth annual ball of the Federation of Jewish Charities will be held in the Moose Home February 23. In existence 16 years, the Federation during the past year has merged all Jewish charitable groups in Camden into its organization. Tanya Roll and Samuel Shane head the committee in charge.

Camden Courier-Post - February 24, 1936

JEWISH FEDERATION HOST TO 400 AT BALL
13^th Annual Event Staged in Moose Hall as 4 Groups Co-operate

The thirteenth annual ball of the Federation of Jewish Charities attracted more than 400 guests last night to Moose Hall.

Four organizations of Jewish community workers' have united in an extensive program of the federation engaged in civic and welfare programs. They are the Hebrew Welfare Society, the Hebrew Ladies Society, the Talmud Torah and the Sheltering Home.

A program of entertainment and dancing featured last night's event.

Among entertainers were Marci Dutkin, 10-year-old Camden "Dancing Doll", Frank Arena, of "Gold Diggers of 1935", and Eddie Peabody, stage star. Music was provided by Sam Yellin's Black Cat Serenaders. The floor show was under direction of Charles Dutkin.

Samuel Shane was chairman of the ball committee with the following co-chairman: Mrs. Martin Koll, Morris Rapkin, Lewis Weinstein, Samuel Zaslow and Alex Malamut.

Among the women Federation assisting at the affair were Mrs. H. Kaplan, Mrs. Samuel Shane, Mrs. V. Gerber, and Mrs. F. Bloom.

MOOSE LODGE TO HONOR DEGREE TEAM MEMBERS

Camden Lodge of Moose will honor its trophy-winning degree team at a special meeting tonight in the Moose Home, Eighth and Market streets.

The team, consisting of staff and drill members, won the trophy offered by the New Jersey State Moose Association at last year's state convention in Trenton in ·competition with degree teams of other lodges.

Presentation will be made by Carroll J. Riley, of Bridgeton, vice-president of the state association, of which Frank R. Wendler, of the  Camden Lodge, is secretary. This will be followed by entertainment and refreshments.

Members of the degree team are Albert Saumenig, captain, Harry Schwartz, Charles Hamilton, Charles Harrison, John Jeffries, Stephen Walter and Albert Colsey, staff; and Nathan Sweeten, Harry Hart, Edward Fox, John Carson, Francis Curry, Peter McEvoy, John Evans, Harry Truran, Thomas Fitzpatrick, Edward Bray, Ralph Del Plazzo, Frank Baker, John Thompson, James Trent and Charles Shaw, drill. 

August 1, 1936

August 8, 1936

Prominent Moose of Camden Lodge No. 111
Charter Members in Boldface

Women's Order of Moose Camden Lodge No. 385