History of Lodge 2357



History of the Rancho Cordova Family Moose Center

by Jack Carlson & Bob Timberlake (founding members)

On May 17, 1989 at St.John Vianney Catholic Church we were instituted as Rancho Cordova Moose Lodge No. 2357. In attendance were many dignitaries, the recruiting force team, and many other members of the fraternity and guests. The crowd was estimated at over 300 in attendance. There were many donated raffle prizes, and a very busy bar the whole evening.The next evening there was a meeting at the home of Hal Neumann’s home where the profits were counted.There was a grand profit of .54 cents (the money has never been spent, and is in a framed picture hanging in the lodge with the coins). We had 175 new members enrolled as Charter members.


The bright side to being here is the sharing of the many activities at the Lodge. We had a great first function at St. John Vianney Catholic Church, a Spaghetti feed. A fun time was had by all in attendance. At the conclusion, Hal Neumann and Jack Carlson were the only ones left to clean up and secure the liquor in the back of his pickup. We returned to his home about 3:30 in the morning and were preparing to unload the precious cargo into his garage for safe keeping. Backing-up he hit the nearly new garage door knocking it down awakened his wife and the whole neighborhood. The next day Hal had a new garage door installed.

During the course of establishing our Lodge, contact was made with Wells Fargo bank that had recently merged leaving one of their branches vacant. The two bank buildings were just a few doors apart with a lease payment due on each of them. As a new Lodge we did not have the resources to rent or buy the location that was to eventually become our building.The Bank Manager said we could occupy the building for free; a very generous offer. When the owner of the building, an attorney from San Francisco, found out we were selling beer and soda to raise needed revenue for the Lodge he said, “get out of my building, it is for banking only”. We relocated to building at Coloma Road and McGregor, and stayed there until about 1996.Eventually, we established a lease-purchase plan on the Wells Fargo building, where the lodge is now located. With some fancy foot work by members of the lodge, we were able to arrange financing and purchased the building for the lodge. There is much work still to be done, and many expensive improvements on the drawing board, but with the support of loyal members of the LOOM and WOTM, we will continue to move forward and achieve these goals.

 

In 1991 we were fortunate to install the Women of the Moose Chapter 1941. What a glorious night to be Governor of the Lodge and present each Lady a beautiful corsage. The Ladies of this Lodge have continually been at the forefront of every activity and are respected and appreciated by the whole membership.