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Modern Woodmen of America (MWA) is one of the largest (based on assets) fraternal benefit societies in the United States, with more than 750,000 members. [1] Total assets reached US$15.4 billion in 2016. Though it shares the same founder, it is not affiliated financially in any way with another, similarly-styled fraternal benefit society, WoodmenLife, and despite the name "Modern" is actually older than its counterpart.
Modern Woodmen of America was founded by Joseph Cullen Root on January 5, 1883, in Lyons, Iowa. [2] He had operated a number of businesses, including a mercantile establishment, a grain elevator and two flour mills, sold insurance and real estate, taught bookkeeping classes, managed a lecture bureau, and practiced law. [3] Root was a member of several fraternal societies throughout the years. He wanted to create an organization that would protect families following the death of a breadwinner. [3]
During a Sunday sermon, Root heard the pastor tell a parable about pioneer woodmen clearing away forests to build homes, communities and security for their families. He adopted the term "woodmen" for his organization. To complete the name, he added "modern" to reflect the need to stay current and change with the times, and "of America" to symbolize patriotism. [4]
Originally, Modern Woodmen had a unique set of membership restrictions and criteria. Religiously, the group was quite open, accepting "Jew and Gentile, the Catholic and Protestant, the agnostic and the atheist." However, until the mid-1900s, membership was restricted to white males between the ages of 18 and 45 from the 12 "healthiest" states – Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, the Dakotas, Nebraska and Kansas. Residents of large cities were also disqualified from membership, as were those employed in certain professions, such as railway workers, underground miners, gunpowder factory employees, liquor wholesalers and manufacturers, saloon keepers, "aeronauts", sailors on the lakes and seas, and professional baseball players. [5]
In 1884, the head office was organized in Fulton, Illinois. The first death claim of $698.58 was paid the same year. [6]
One of the most unique elements of the organization was its drill teams, which came to be known as the Modern Woodmen Foresters. The first drill team was organized in Hutchinson, Kansas, in 1894. [6] These groups became nationally known for events held from 1890 to the late 1930s, and the Foresters were even honored by Herbert Hoover at the White House.
Because each group was differentiated by a different style and color of uniform, their demonstrations were referred to as "Rainbow Parades." The Rainbow Parades were hosted by cities across the United States and included 10,000 units of Foresters, with more than 160,000 men participating. [7] The last known Rainbow Parade was held on Michigan Boulevard in Chicago, and it halted traffic for more than two hours while thousands of spectators viewed the scene.
During the tuberculosis (TB) epidemic of the early 1900s, Modern Woodmen opened a 1,000-acre (4.0 km²) facility in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 1907.
The facility cost $1.5 million to build and was named one of the most outstanding institutions for the treatment of TB by the American College of Surgeons. From 1909 to 1947, the sanatorium provided free treatment to more than 12,000 members. [8] It offered board, lodging, treatment, medicine, dental work and laundering, all at no expense to the patient.
Tuberculosis was the leading cause of death among Modern Woodmen members when the society opened the Modern Woodmen Tuberculosis Sanatorium. Following World War II, antibiotics became available and TB declined in the United States. The facility closed in 1947, when TB ranked eighth in leading causes of death.
Modern Woodmen's first home office was organized in Fulton, Illinois, in 1884. When the organization moved to Rock Island, Illinois, in 1897, Fulton residents fought to keep Modern Woodmen in their town. The move was blocked three times before it was successful. In 1898, Modern Woodmen officially opened its home office at 1504 Third Ave. [9]
In 1967, Modern Woodmen opened a new home office, located at 1701 First Avenue in Rock Island, Illinois, to accommodate its rapid growth. Its home office remains there today, where the organization maintains an active role in the Quad Cities community.
In 2008, Modern Woodmen became the naming rights sponsor of Modern Woodmen Park, home of the Quad Cities River Bandits, in Davenport, Iowa. [10]
Modern Woodmen is a tax-exempt fraternal benefit society. The membership organization sells life insurance, annuity and investment products to help fund member benefits and social, educational and volunteer programs that meet community needs.
As a fraternal organization, the society is organized around a lodge system, called chapters, Summit chapters and youth service clubs. These groups offer fellowship and community service opportunities for members. In 2016, Modern Woodmen members were part of 2,466 chapters, 283 Summit chapters and 782 youth service clubs nationwide. [11]
Modern Woodmen members across the United States participate in numerous activities to socialize, learn and volunteer in their communities. Members unite for volunteer efforts that provide money, donations, hand-on labor and other resources to improve lives in their communities. The organization's Matching Fund Program matches money raised by individual chapters for community members or local organizations in need.
Modern Woodmen's fraternal expenditures for member benefits and community programs totaled $21.7 million in 2016. These programs included fraternal aid, college scholarships, newborn benefits, orphan benefits, final wishes resources, member discounts and youth educational programs. [12]
Modern Woodmen and its subsidiaries provide life insurance and annuity, investment and banking products to the family market. Life insurance in force totaled over $38.9 billion in 2016. [13] Modern Woodmen has three wholly owned subsidiaries:
A. M. Best rates Modern Woodmen's financial stability, security and management performance as A (Excellent), the third highest of 15 ratings. The rating is based on a comprehensive quantitative evaluation of the organization's balance sheet strength, operating performance and business profile. Insurers in the superior category are considered to have a superior ability to meet their ongoing obligations. [13]
Modern Woodmen follows a conservative investment approach, holding more than 80 percent of its portfolio in corporate and government bonds. As of 2016, Modern Woodmen holds $112.09 for every $100 in liabilities. [14]
The Independent Order of Foresters, operating as Foresters Financial, is a fraternal benefit society headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that provides life insurance and other financial solutions in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. As of 2022, Louis Gagnon has served as the company's president and CEO.
A sanatorium, also sanitarium or sanitorium, is a historic name for a specialised hospital for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments and convalescence. Sanatoriums are often in a healthy climate, usually in the countryside. The idea of healing was an important reason for the historical wave of establishments of sanatoriums, especially at the end of the 19th- and early 20th centuries. One sought, for instance, the healing of consumptives especially tuberculosis or alcoholism, but also of more obscure addictions and longings of hysteria, masturbation, fatigue and emotional exhaustion. Facility operators were often charitable associations such as the Order of St. John and the newly founded social welfare insurance companies.
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, is an American Fortune 500 not-for-profit financial services organization headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Appleton, Wisconsin, and founded by Lutherans. As a member-owned fraternal benefit society, it operates under a chapter system, serving nearly 2.3 million members.
A benefit society, fraternal benefit society, fraternal benefit order, friendly society, or mutual aid society is a society, an organization or a voluntary association formed to provide mutual aid, benefit, for instance insurance for relief from sundry difficulties. Such organizations may be formally organized with charters and established customs, or may arise ad hoc to meet unique needs of a particular time and place.
Woodman, Woodmen or Woodmans may refer to:
WoodmenLife is a not-for-profit fraternal benefit society founded in 1890, based in Omaha, Nebraska, United States, that operates a large privately held insurance company for its members.
A fraternity or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club or fraternal order traditionally of men associated together for various religious or secular aims. Fraternity in the Western concept developed in the Christian context, notably with the religious orders in the Catholic Church during the Middle Ages. The concept was eventually further extended with medieval confraternities and guilds. In the early modern era, these were followed by fraternal orders such as Freemasons and Odd Fellows, along with gentlemen's clubs, student fraternities, and fraternal service organizations. Members are occasionally referred to as a brother or – usually in a religious context – frater or friar.
The Ancient Order of United Workmen (AOUW) was a fraternal organization in the United States and Canada, providing mutual social and financial support after the American Civil War. It was the first of the "fraternal benefit societies", organizations that would offer insurance as well as sickness, accident, death and burial policies.
Danish Brotherhood in America is a fraternal organization that was founded in 1882 in Omaha, Nebraska. It had about 8,000 members in 2010. A period report said of the Danish Brotherhood, "This is by far the strongest and most influential secular organization about the Danes in America."
Assured Life Association, formerly Woodmen of the World and/or Assured Life Association, having officially changed its name to on January 1, 2015, is a fraternal benefit society based in Denver, Colorado whose beginnings can be traced to the same founder as Modern Woodmen of America and Woodmen of the World in 1890. Today, Assured Life Association is not affiliated with either organization. Aside from offering insurance benefits the organization is a non-profit Life Insurer organized to give back revenues to its member customers through direct benefits such as college scholarships and summer camp grants for youth and through discounts on other products and services. The Society also has a member-directed matching charitable giving program. Four national community service projects are promoted among Society member customers each year.
The American Fraternal Alliance (AFA) is an umbrella group of fraternal orders in the United States. It was founded as the National Fraternal Congress of America in 1913, in Chicago and adopted its current name in 2011.
The Catholic Order of Foresters are fraternal benefit societies in the United States.
Royal Neighbors of America is a Life insurance company targeted towards women.
The town of Colorado Springs, Colorado, played an important role in the history of tuberculosis in the era before antituberculosis drugs and vaccines. Tuberculosis management before this era was difficult and often of limited effect. In the 19th century, a movement for tuberculosis treatment in hospital-like facilities called sanatoriums became prominent, especially in Europe and North America. Thus people sought tuberculosis treatment in Colorado Springs because of its dry climate and fresh mountain air. Some people stayed in boarding houses, while others sought the hospital-like facilities of sanatoriums. In the 1880s and 1890s, it is estimated that one-third of the people living in Colorado Springs had tuberculosis. The number of sanatoriums and hospitals increased into the twentieth century. During World War II, medicines were developed that successfully treated tuberculosis and by the late 1940s specialized tuberculosis treatment facilities were no longer needed.
The Modern Order of Praetorians, sometimes known as The Praetorians, was a fraternal organization founded in Dallas in 1898 or 1899 by Charles B. Gardner, who had formerly worked with the Home Forum and Woodmen of the World. Despite early setbacks the Order thrived and in the early built the Praetorian Building, the first skyscraper in Texas.
The Golden Age of Fraternalism is a term referring to a period when membership in the fraternal societies in the United States grew at a very rapid pace in the latter third of the 19th century and continuing into the first part of the 20th. At its peak, it was suggested that as much as 40% of the adult male population held membership in at least one fraternal order.