The Cripple Creek Elks have diligently served the community
of Cripple Creek for over 108 years. Before the onset of legalized
gambling in Cripple Creek in 1991, the Lodge was the hub of
all social activities for the town. It has seen both the good
times and the bad, with the Lodge and the town helping each
other, living in a symbiotic relationship.
The Cripple Creek Elks Lodge was instituted on April 6, 1895.
There were 60 Charter Members initiated that night, most of
them being prominent business owners and mine operators. During
the Grand Lodge year of 1895, when the Cripple Creek Elks
were instituted, there was a division among the Grand Lodge
of Elks, one faction meeting at Jamestown, NY, and the other
meeting at Atlantic City, NJ. Cripple Creek Lodge was with
the Jamestown faction, and the Grand Secretary of that division
issued to Cripple Creek Lodge a charter, giving it number
296. A few days later, at Atlantic City, the Jamestown party
appeared and asked to be reunited with the body then meeting
there. This consolidation was effected and, as the Cripple
Creek Lodge had been given number 296, which was a duplication
of the number given to Joliet Lodge by the Atlantic City Convention,
the case of Cripple Creek Lodge was referred to the Committee
on Charters for a report at the meeting of the Grand Lodge
in Cincinnati in July of 1896. The Committee on Charters offered
a resolution, granting a charter to Cripple Creek Lodge number
316. The original charter in the Lodge room has Lodge number
296, with a line drawn through it, and 316 written after.
For the first 14 years of the Elks in Cripple Creek, they
had no permanent home, other than renting space in various
building around town. In 1896, after the great fires of Cripple
Creek, the Elks were in negotiations with the City to build
a new City Hall, with the Elks occupying the entire third
floor. The Elks printed mortgage bonds to sell and finance
the third floor, but decided to not go ahead with the plans,
for they favored a more permanent building in which they could
call home. The bonds were never sold, and the new City Hall
only had two floors.
On April 8th, 1910, the Lodge purchased the Gold Mine Stock
Exchange Building, on the corner of 4th and Bennett as their
new, permanent “Elks Home”. The building was completely
gutted and renovated to serve it’s purpose, and thanks
to Brothers A.E. and L.G. Carlton and their families, and
to Brother
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Maroney for all of their donations, the mortgage
burning ceremony was held in 1921, making the Cripple Creek
Elks Home their own. The Cripple Creek Elks have remained
in this building for the last 94 years.
In 1903, the Cripple Creek Elks secured a deed to the Elks
Rest, in Mount Pisgah Cemetery for the Elks to have an eternal
resting-place. In 1904 a monument was commissioned to have
all the Elks names who departed before 1903, so that they
may be included in the Elks Rest. This monument still stands
in the original Elks Rest. The Cripple Creek Elks also have
an Elks Rest Annex, directly to the north and west of the
original plot for its members.
Over the past 108 years, the Cripple Creek Elks have served
their community well. In 1950 the Lodge went into partnership
to own the Cripple Creek Hospital, and they continued to own
it until 1960. They owned the Cripple Creek Library from 1922,
until they turned it completely over to the city in 1973,
with the stipulation it be called the Franklin Ferguson Memorial
Library, in honor of a PER. In 1946 the Elks built a ballpark
in the city of Cripple Creek, and continued to operate and
maintain it until 1974, when it was donated to the School
District, for the new High School being built next to it.
It was also stipulated that it be named Dial field, in honor
of another PER. The land, on which the City Park rests, across
Bennett Avenue from the Police Station was also a donation
from the Elks to the city of Cripple Creek, and is well used
today.
The Cripple Creek Lodge has been charitable to the citizens
of the community. All throughout the history of it’s
108 years, they have done or participated in Christmas Baskets
for the needy, and helped out the Veterans and elderly with
gifts and donations. During the Hayman Fire of 2002, which
raged across a large portion of Colorado, the Cripple Creek
Elks did their share by raising over $8,500.00, and contributing
it to four local Fire Departments for needed supplies. This
year, the Cripple Creek Elks are again helping out the community
by a large fundraising effort to help fund the new Pikes Peak
Regional Medical Hospital, to be located just outside of Woodland
Park, CO to serve Teller County.
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