The Woodmen Camp

The Modern Woodmen of America (M.W.A.) was founded in 1883 by Indiana businessman, Joseph Cullen Root. A member of several fraternal organizations, Root came up with the idea for the M.W.A. after listening to a minister’s sermon about pioneer woodmen clearing away forests to build homes. Root thought this was the best way to illustrate his goal of clearing away financial burdens for families. He organized the M.W.A. as a fraternal organization and life insurance company. Root wrote the rituals and served as the first “Head Consul”.  The organization initially used a somewhat bizarre, racist and exclusionary admission policy.  M.W.A membership was restricted to white men between the ages 18 to 45 from the 12 “healthiest states” of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North and South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas. When it came to religion the organization  was a little more enlightened. They welcomed Jews, Gentiles, Catholics and Protestants, agnostics and atheists as longs as they were not employed as railway workers, underground miners, gunpowder factory employees, liquor wholesalers,saloon keepers, aeronauts (balloon pilots), sailors or professional baseball players. The M.W.A.’s mission was to help families survive after the loss of a breadwinner. The organization also arranged community events through its local chapters, called “camps.” These included meetings, parades, and baseball games. The fraternity located their head office in Fulton, Illinois, in 1884. A women’s auxiliary organization, the Royal Neighbors of America was established in 1888. By 1890 , Root was dissatisfied with and left it to organize another fraternity called Woodmen of the World.

One of the strangest aspects of the organization was its drill teams, known as the Modern Woodmen Foresters, These groups gained national attention for their large scale events. Every drill team had its own color and style of uniform so their demonstrations were called “Rainbow Parades.” The axe used by Foresters during drills was used in variety of two-handed movements. Footwork formations included wedges, triangles, squares and crosses. The Parades were hosted by cities all over the country. At one point the Foresters claimed to have as many as 1600, 000 men in over 10,000 units. In 1931, after one of these events in Washington D.C., the Foresters were honored by Herbert Hoover at the White House.

It is hard to say who came up with the idea of a M.W.A. Park in Robbinsdale, but in 1903, a 12 acre tent city was established south of Johnson Road (36th Avenue) near France Avenue on land donated by or city’s founder Andrew B. Robbins, A.L. Sartor and Arthur L. Jones . The new “camp”  was subdivided into lots and rented to city people for spring and summer for outings. The 40′ x 40′ lots were available for ten dollars down and five dollars per month. Advertisements noted that the tent city was on the streetcar line, close lakes, and under the  protection of Robbinsdale Police. On December 25th, 1903, the Minneapolis Journal reported;

Robbinsdale has a weekly newspaper, the first number of which has just been distributed. It is called the Robbinsdale Park Progress, is edited by A. S. McMillan. It is a neat little paper: Of four pages, which is devoted to the interests of the Modern Woodmen Park Association. The paper is the Official organ Of this association, and will boom the park and the real estate interests of Robbinsdale.

The newspaper devoted much of their space to advertising the project. They also ran lengthy articles laying out elaborate plans for barracks, a pavilion and a state hospital.

A Woodman Park

W.H. Dawson, state deputy for Minnesota, sends in an item clipped from the Minneapolis Tribune of November 28, which of so much interest to Woodmen generally that we reproduce the salient points of the same. Another fine park, near Robbinsdale, owned operated by the Modern Woodmen of America, will soon be added to the extensive park system for which Minneapolis has become famous. Articles of incorporation have already been filed by the Park Association just organized by the Hennepin County Woodmen. and plans are being perfected for the improvement of the park as soon as work can commence in the spring. Some twelve acres of what Secretary W. T. Hall, of the new Park association, describes as the finest natural park land he has ever seen, have been donated to the order. They border on Lake Crystal, a fine expanse of water, about a mile long and half a mile wide. Though the park will be operated exclusively in the interests of the Modern Woodmen of America in Hennepin county it will not be forbidden ground, and will furnish another beauty spot for the city. The Woodmen expect to erect a fine pavilion at the park, probably within a year. Later they intend locating there a state hospital in the interest of the order. The park will be dedicated in the spring with many of the leading officials of the order in America arc expected to be present to participate, and the event is due to make the dedication day one of the greatest that Woodcraft has ever seen in the county. During the summer regular entertainments will be given at the park. The city has felt the need of more such entertainments, and it is confidently expected that the Woodmen’s entertainments in this new park will prove immensely popular and will contribute largely to the funds with which to build the pavilion and to make further improvements. The general purpose. of the park is to provide a place where the many Woodmen of the city and county may hold picnics and other entertainments, may take friends who are visiting the city and use as their own. Crystal Lake and Twin Lake, near by, are both being stocked with fish by the city and will afford excellent opportunities for the angler. The land is this side of Robbinsdale and lies between the street car line and the Great Northern tracks. The park will be managed by a board of trustees selected from the camps of the county and composed of the four officers of the Park Association and another member.

Robbinsdale Park Progress- January 1904

The barracks, which were never built, were to accommodate battalions for two weeks at a time. A regiment of uniformed “Foresters” was organized to establish the camp every summer. The grounds were laid out in a suburban grid. Flowers were planted and the area was made into a generally presentable playground for outdoor enthusiasts. Afternoon and evening attractions included baseball, vaudeville, dancing and pike suppers.

Shortly after park’s grand opening on June 4th, 1904, the newly formed Robbinsdale Commercial Club entertained the directors of the Modern Woodmen of America Park Association at a banquet in the Columbia Hotel on West Broadway.The Woodmen decided to form regular military battalions from the camps in Hennepin county and to hold annual encampments on Lake Crystal.The declared aim of the club and the association was to beautify their park and suburb of very attractive. A “glad hand” was given to the park association members by Toastmaster A. M. Gillette, grace was given by Rev. Donald Colp of the Congregational Church. Andrew B. Robbins, spoke to the toast. Other speakers that evening included Minnesota State Deputy of the M.W.A., W. H. Dawson., Thomas Girling, W. S. Randolph, Rev. Thomas K. Fisher and George O. Johnson Music was furnished by Dr. S. E. Haggard, Mrs. George Luger, George Elfner, D. A. Arntsen, W. F. Grenell and H. P. Sudmeir.

The Modern Woodmen predicted that at least 30,000 would visit the park and that Robbinsdale would become a familiar name from Maine to California. Somehow things did not work out as planned and although the park hosted scores sportsmen and their families over the next few years, grandiose proposals like a state hospital and the inclusion of Crystal Lake in the Minneapolis Park System never came to pass.  The effort was abandoned with the beginning of the First World War. After the war, the park’s camping lots became a subdivision.

 

The  Modern Woodmen still exist as tax-exempt fraternal benefit society. These days they’re better known for selling life insurance, annuities and investment products than drill teams, sanitariums and camping parks. The organization has 740,000 members organized into chapters 2,466 chapters, 283 Summit chapters and 782 youth service clubs. Members participate in a variety of volunteer efforts that provide money, donations, and labor to worthy causes . In 2020, the  Modern Woodmen contributed $29.3 million to community projects and people in need . These programs included fraternal aid, college scholarships, orphans’ benefits, final wishes resources, disaster relief and a variety educational programs.