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The Grand Lodge of the United States decided to establish
an Orange Home for orphans and aged and infirm brethren following
Grand Lodge sessions in 1898 at Chicago, Illinois, when the
suggestion was put forward by the Grand Master, J.C. Hardenbergh,
of Cleveland, Ohio.
The report from the 1900 meeting details that the Grand Master
told those present that, with judicious management, he believed
a home for orphans and another for aged brethren could be
made self-sustaining.
"I believe it could be so arranged that in the purchase
of a suitable building for grounds, both could be located
together and conducted by one supervisor, thus saving expenses.
To this end our first step should be to create a fund for
this purpose; therefore I would recommend that each subordinate
Lodge forward to our treasury at least 25 cents for each of
their members before the first day of January 1899, this fund
to be kept separate, together with all other donations which
we are likely to receive from outside sources from patriotic
Protestant wealthy people," Hardenbergh outlined.
In 1900 when the Grand Lodge met in New York a committee
reported back on the project, suggesting that the Orange Home
should be under the direction of a board of managers selected
by the Grand Lodge, and that the location should be "10
or 15 miles out along the line of a steam or electic railroad,
for by so doing the city can be easily and quickly reached
and at little expense".
The committee also suggested that the home should consist
of a 'fair-sized' farm with suitable buildings and implements,
while further buildings could be added as were necessary.
The chairman of this committee, I.E. Seiple, recommended
that 25 cents per Orangeman per year be allocated for the
home, which was to be known as The Orange Home Association
of the Loyal Orange Institution, USA, and that the board of
the home be enpowered to elect a superintendent.
"This Home can be made self-sustaining almost immediately
by careful management and the selection of a site suitable
for gardening and by adding such industries as can be worked
by the inmates. This will at least lessen the running expenses
until such time as it may become self-sustaining," Seiple
reported.
Enthusiasm for the proposal was shown at an early stage by
one Lodge, Star of Bethlehem L.O.L. No. 125 of Wilmington,
who subscribed $700, their generosity soon being followed
suit by others.
In due course a farm was bought at Hatboro, Pennsylvania,
and an Orange parade took place there on Thanksgiving Day
1901 to mark the inauguration of the project.
Support came from the Ladies' Orange Association, while on
a much smaller scale Orangemen from across the USA sent private
donations of $10 in once case and $1 in the case of an Orange
widow, as was recounted by the Supreme Grand Master, George
T Lemmon in his 1902 report.
Children or older members were referred to the board of directors
of the Home by individual Lodges, as was the case, for example,
with William (9), Walter (7) and Thomas Maginnis (12), who
were recommended by L.O.L. No. 52 in Philadelphia in January
1912.
Each report at the Grand Lodge sessions details the progress
of the Orange Home, and at Detroit in 1904 it was noted that
the home had been build and was displaying Orange and Purple
flags as well as the Stars and Stripes. It was, reported by
Bro. William Kirkland, the Supreme Grand Secretary, not longer
a dream, but a reality and a pride to all the Orange fraternity.
When the Grand Lodge sessions were held in the Oddfellows
Hall in Philadelphia in 1906, the location enabled delegates
to spend an afternoon at the Orange Home, being conveyed there
in two special trains. The celebration was marked by the presence
of Kensington Orange Band and the children of the home singing
hymns for their distinguished guests (they later paraded around
the home, led by the band). As a result of the visit, donations
of $2,000 were made to the home on the day, considerably benefiting
the coffers.
Running the premises and farm was not without its problems,
as subsequent reports reveal, but that it was successful in
establishing a secure home for the children and older brethren
is also quite clear.
A report on the admissions to the Home between August 1910
and August 1912 shows that in July 1912 there were 33 boys,
eight girls and nine elderly or infirm brethren constituting
the Orange Home family.
These comprised children aged between three years and 15
and they came from Philadelphia, South Manchester (Conneticutt)
Germantown (Pennsylvania), Belaire (Ohio), Pittsburg and elsewhere
in Pennsylvania. Most of the older brethren would appear to
have come from Pennsylvania.
A report in 1912 noted that there were five horses, two cows,
12 hogs, 120 hens, 200 chickens and 10 geese at the farm,
while the crops consisted of 15 acres of wheat and oats, 13
acres of field corn, eight acres of potatoes, three acres
of sweet corn, two acres of beans and around eight acres in
other produce. There were a further 16 acres in hay and pasture,
the report detailed.
Thanksgiving Days appear to have been special days for congregating
at the home, for we learn in a 1914 report that hundreds of
visitors from near and far had enjoyed celebrations there.
One Lodge in particular, Star Spangled Banner L.O.L. No. 65
from Chestnut Hill, had been especially benevolent, donating
$500 on that occasion but helping on many other occasions
too.
"The members of this Lodge have always been good friends
of the Home and there is no time when their automobiles are
not at the disposal of the band in transporting it to a meeting
or concert the report stated.
The Orange Home at Hatboro certainly seems to have highlighted
important elements of Orangeism, whether in the US or anywhere
else; charity and fraternal benevolence.
One example of that benevolent aspect of Orangeism comes
in the old reports of the Grand Lodge of Ireland. In June
1918 the Grand Lodge was informed that Bro. the Rev. George
T Lemmon, who was the Supreme Grand Secretary of the United
States, had offered to take 10 or more war orphans, who might
have lost both parents, into the Orange Home. In the event
of any such need being found through the auspices of the Lord
Enniskillen Memorial Orange Orphan Society, he further detailed
that the costs of their passage to the United States could
also be met.
It would be interesting to know of the subesquent history
of those who found a new and secure home at the Orange Home
in Hatsboro, Pennsylvania.
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