This website is a very comprehensive and complete (with pictures) account of how the B&PO of Elks was founded. ** ** ** ** ** ** Summary: The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks fraternal and charitable society was founded in 1868 in New York City. Through the Elks National Foundation, located in Chicago, the organization has a vast out-reach program of charity and welfare, giving to such organizations as the Salvation Army, the Red Cross, and the Boy and Girl Scouts. The Elks also sponsors health, veterans, and college scholarship programs, as well as various local community service activities. The organization has about 1.3 million members in more than 2,200 local lodges. Membership in the society was opened to all male U.S. citizens in 1973 and then to women in 1995, who had previously belonged only to lodge auxiliaries.