The Shriners: Helping Children Since 1922

A new exhibit entitled: “The Shriners: Helping Children Since 1922” opened at the Dacotah Prairie Museum through the end of the month of August, 2008. In part, it was designed to educate and entertain members of the Midwest Shrine Association during their summer convention on August 7, 8, and 9, 2008 in Aberdeen. The exhibit’s main purpose, however, was to acquaint the general public with the Shrine organization and it’s philanthropic projects, especially involving children.

Freemasonry dates back hundreds of years to when stonemasons and other craftsmen on building projects gathered in sheltered houses or lodges. Through the years, these gatherings changed in many ways until formal Masonic lodges emerged, with members bound together not by trade, but by their own wishes to be fraternal brothers.

In 1920, Shriners voted to found their own philanthropy - Shriners Hospitals for Children. The first Shriner Hospital was opened in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1922, and it grew into an international network. Today, 23 hospitals internationally are completely funded by Shriners with no cost to the child. Men from all walks of life find fun and fellowship as one of the 515,000 Shriners belonging to 191 Shrine Centers throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Republic of Panama.

The Museum’s exhibit re-counts this and more history of the organization and its current functions. The display included the uniform of a Shriner, a colorful clown costume used for the circus (a main Shriner event) photographs of activities, several “Fez” hats worn as part of  traditional Shriner costumes, and one of the first circus posters used to generate excitement for the event in our area.

Also included at the Museum were articles of tradition and history provided by the “Daughters of the Nile”, an organization for women who are directly related to a Shriner by birth or marriage. The original Aberdeen Charter for the organization is here, a multi-portrait of first queens and several original crowns as well as the golden cape which graced the first queens.
 The story of the Shriners is one of service, fun and brotherhood to the benefit of community and the greater world.

To view past exhibits, click here.