Junior Order of United American Mechanics

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A JOUAM ribbon from Dunmore, Pennsylvania, early 20th century
Concord School in the Germantown area of Philadelphia, birthplace of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics.[1][2]
Junior Order of United American Mechanics Whatcom Council No. 1, Bellingham, Washington. Date unknown, probably c. 1970s

The Junior Order of United American Mechanics is an American fraternal order. It began as a youth affiliation of the Order of United American Mechanics, but seceded to become its own organization and eventually absorbed its parent order. Originally, it was an anti-Catholic, nativist group, but eventually abandoned this position and became a general fraternal benefit society open to people regardless of creed, race or sex.[3]

In 1923 the JOUAM had 253,399 members in its "Funeral Benefit Dept" and 22,519 "Beneficiary Degree" members. Its headquarters at that time were located at 741 Wabash Building, and reportedly had state and local councils in nearly every state in the Union. It also ran a in Tiffin, Ohio, which housed 800-900 children. While the Order's purposes were mostly fraternal by this point, membership remained restricted to Protestants, and some of its officers still continued to advocate anti-Catholic positions.[4]

By 1969 this had dwindled to 35,172, 15,000 of which were social (non-insured) members. By 1979 the number had dropped to 8,500, evenly divided between social and beneficiary members in 400 local councils. The group was then headquartered in Willow Grove, a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and held a national convention biennially. It also had a bimonthly news paper, Junior American,[5] which is still published.[6]

Between 1925 and 1932, they constructed the Junior Order United American Mechanics National Orphans Home near Lexington, North Carolina.[7] It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.[8]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Deemer, Edward S. (1897). Official History of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics and American Landmarks. Fraternity Publishing Company. p. 330. Retrieved November 28, 2016. See p. 20
  2. ^ Burrell, E. Perot. "Concord School, HABS No. PA-12" (PDF). Historic American Buildings Survey. Retrieved November 28, 2016. Based on an article by William N. Johnson in Germantown Magazine, December 1925.
  3. ^ Alvin J. Schmidt and Nicholas Babchuk,Fraternal Organizations Greenwood Press Westport, CT, 1980 p.171-2
  4. ^ Preuss, Arthur A Dictionary of Secret and other Societies St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co. 1924; republished Detroit: Gale Reference Company 1966; p.208
  5. ^ Schmidt p.172
  6. ^ http://www.jrouam.org/index.php?pr=Junior_American&=SID
  7. ^ Ruth Little (August 1983). "Junior Order United American Mechanics National Orphans Home" (PDF). National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory. North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office. Retrieved 2014-10-01.
  8. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.

External links[]

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