In 2020, Davin Newman and his family sold everything they owned and moved from Kirksville, Mo., to Clinton. In Clinton, he had an opportunity to take over a State Farm insurance agency from the owner, who was retiring.
When he moved here, Davin also left behind the family he grew up in, his friends and the classmates he used to run with.
“I knew no one in town,” he said.
That changed as a result of a conversation Davin had with Keith Weston at the Creative Paint Store, a few storefronts down from Davin’s office on the Square. Weston, the store owner, asked Davin if he had ever thought about being an Elk. The Exalted Ruler of the local Elks lodge, Weston also mentioned the lodge had an officer position open.
So Davin joined the Clinton Elks Lodge and jumped right in as an officer, he said. Three and a half years later, he is the Exalted Ruler of B.P.O.E. Lodge No. 1304, one of the largest Elks lodges in Missouri. More importantly:
“I have made life-long friends,” Davin said. “They are literally like family to me. They are my brothers and sisters.“
Davin was elected head of the lodge last April for a one-year term. The year he joined, he stepped into the office of esteemed lecturing knight, then moved up the ranks to loyal knight, then leading knight.
“It made my transition here much easier,” he said of joining the lodge and getting involved in its leadership.
The Clinton Elks Lodge has 750 members, many of them young men with families. It is one of the last remaining lodges in the country where all the members are male, Davin said. There is no rule about it, he said, it’s just that no women have been proposed for membership, at least since he’s been there. Women are welcome at lodge events.
Many people join for the social aspect, Davin said. The lodge has a kitchen where a cook prepares dinners Wednesday through Saturday nights. Thursdays, when there is a taco bar, rivals Friday as the popular night, drawing a crowd of 150.
“If you don’t get there by 5:30 p.m., it’s hard to get a spot,” he said.
Davin brings his family, spouse Ashlynn and their two sons, ages 8 and 4. There’s a kids’ area, and lodge offspring run around with each other, and you don’t have to worry about them like you would at a public restaurant, he said.
After-dinner entertainment is card games, Davin said. The lodge has two balconies, front and back, he said, where they put fans out and listen to music.
“With its view over the Square, the front balcony is a good place to people-watch,” he said.
Founded as a fraternal organization in 1868, Elks lodges traditionally leased meeting space on the upper floors of downtown buildings to be convenient to their members’ places of business. But as members got older and couldn’t do stairs, many lodges moved out of town where there was room to build on one level, plus provide RV parking for visiting Elks.
But after their building on the north side of the Square collapsed in 2006, the Clinton lodge chose to rebuild on the same site, Davin said.
“Our roots are on the Square,” he said.
The lodge reopened in 2008 with Eric Mitchell returning as exalted ruler. The building collapse resulted in the death of Tony Komer, the exalted ruler, who was working on the top floor.
At that time the lodge owned half the building, Davin said, which it purchased from the Kreisler family, who had a drug store on the site. Two years ago, the Elks bought the other half from the family, he said, and now lease space to shops on the street level.
The second-floor meetings rooms are accessible by elevator. The banquet room is available to rent for weddings and other events, which the lodge caters, and is almost always booked, Davin said.
The Clinton lodge is ranked 5th in growth of Elks lodges in Missouri, Davin said.
In addition to forming friendships, Davin said what he likes about the Elks is they give back to the community. The lodge supports the Elks Benevolent Trust, which funds the Missouri state Elks project, a mobile dental clinic for underprivileged children.
“We’ve expanded it to veterans,” Davin said of dental care.
The national Elks organization is one of the largest fraternal organizations in the country, with more than 1.1 million members. That number is growing, according to Davin, who attended the national convention in Minneapolis in July.
“We give out more scholarships than the federal government,” he said.
The Clinton lodge holds an annual auction to raise money for veteran and youth projects, which include scholarships for graduating seniors and an annual day at the Springfield zoo for area students.
The Elks organization started as a group of entertainers, but has grown to include people from all walks of life, including famous sports figures, U.S. senators and presidents — Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy were Elks. The membership is known for patriotism, Davin said. The Clinton lodge holds annual dinners for veterans and first responders and their spouses. The veterans dinner, held in the week before Olde Glory Days, drew almost 200 people last June, Davin said.
“If you look at any flagpole in this town, it’s probably flying a flag that was donated by the Elks,” he said.
Belonging to the Elks entitles members to visit the 2,100 Elks lodges around the country, some of which have campgrounds, golf courses and bowling alleys, Davin said. Some lodges offer spots in their parking lots, sometimes with electric hook-ups. The Cape Girardeau Elks Lodge has 100-plus wooded acres surrounding a 38-acre lake stocked with fish, and a pontoon boat available to members at no cost.
To be eligible for membership in the Elks, you must be over the age of 21, a U.S. citizen and believe in God. Each prospective member is sponsored by a lodge member in good standing, must have two references and is voted on by the entire lodge. Annual dues at the Clinton lodge is $81.
Davin Newman’s State Farm Insurance agency is located at 100 N. Main, on the northeast corner of the Square at Main and Franklin.
The Clinton Elks Lodge is located at 115 W. Franklin. For more information, go to the Clinton Mo Elks #1034 Facebook.
