ROCHELLE — The Rochelle Moose Lodge will celebrate its 95th anniversary on May 27. The Rochelle Moose Family Center at 311 N. Main St. houses the Loyal Order of Moose Lodge 903 and Women of The Moose Chapter 438. The Rochelle Moose Lodge was instituted on May 27, 1929.

Including its current building, the Rochelle Moose Lodge has occupied five buildings in Rochelle, Community Service Chairman and Membership Chairman Dave Schabacker said. Causes the Moose supports have included local fundraisers, gathering pop tabs for Ronald McDonald House, offering a haunted room during Lincoln Highway Heritage Festival each year, and raising money for the national organization’s hallmarks, Mooseheart and Moosehaven. Mooseheart is a residential childcare facility for children and teens in need, from infancy through high school. Moosehaven is a private membership retirement facility for members. 

“We've survived a lot to keep this Moose Lodge going,” Schabacker said. “Other than the American Legion and the Horicon Masonic Lodge, we're probably the oldest fraternal, charitable organization in existence in this town. The Moose is really about fraternalism and Mooseheart and Moosehaven. We have about 300+ adults in Moosehaven.”

The first meeting place of the Rochelle Moose was the second floor of the Lazier building at the corner of Main Street and Fourth Avenue. In 1939, the organization moved to the third floor of the Bain Building in downtown Rochelle at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Lincoln Highway. In 1956, a move was made to the corner of Cherry Avenue and Main Street, its current location.

In 1978, The Moose moved to 903 Caron Road, where it stayed until 1988 before moving back to its current location.

The Rochelle Moose has seen seven members attain the Pilgrim Degree, the highest rank in the order. They include Ben Endthoff in 1972, Frank Danekas in 1985, Chuck McGrath in 1997, Paul Henry in 1999, Schabacker in 2012, Ray Foster in 2014 and Paul Bearrows in 2018.

“Reaching the rank of Pilgrim is something I never looked for,” Schabacker, who joined the Moose in 1977, said. “I do what I do because it needs to be done. 'Do some good thing for someone each day' is a quote that's common with the Moose. Another is 'No man stands so tall as when he stoops to pick up a child.' I like the service aspect of it and being part of something bigger than myself. I think everybody needs to think about their legacy and what they're going to leave behind.”

Women of the Moose Chapter #438 was chartered in 1932. On May 1, 2021, women could join the Loyal Order of Moose for the first time. This coming May 1, The Rochelle Lodge will have its first woman president, Julie Laws.

“Except for one man, our board will soon be entirely filled with women,” Schabacker said. “That would have been totally unheard of 20 years ago. I'm glad to see it.”

Presently there are approximately 90 kids on the Mooseheart campus. The last kids the lodge sponsored were Todd and Danny Anderson on August 1, 1998, of rural Esmond. Moose chapter #438 presently has a sunshine girl, Sade Johnson, who will graduate this June from Mooseheart.

“We bring the kids out for Mooseheart for Lincoln Highway Heritage Festival each year and give them some money to spend and they get free rides at the carnival,” Schabacker said. “Free rides are always a must.”

Schabacker said that like other fraternal organizations and service clubs, the Moose has seen its member numbers drop in recent years. The Rochelle Moose Lodge is always looking for new members to get involved. It has about 440 members today. Back in 1976, that number was over 700. At one point, it was near 1,000. 

“It's tough getting new members,” Schabacker siad. “We have to be receptive to change as the years go on. But we have to remember the past. That's why I'm into history and why the names of our founding members matter to me. We're working on reaching young people and keeping it going. People take things for granted until they need a fundraiser. And that's OK. But maybe those people that we help could join up with us and help the next person in need. We try to help our fellow members with things like jobs. It's like a bigger, extended family.”