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BPOE - The pin available for members is similar to tombstone emblems
BPOE - Benevolent Protective Order of the Elks, Hillside Cemetery, Allegan Co., Michigan
BPOE - Benevolent Protective Order of the Elks, Hillside Cemetery, Allegan Co., MI

BPOE - Benevolent Protective Order of the Elks

American fraternal, charitable, and service club with more than 1.1 million members. Contributor to the relief of suffering in national calamaties.

The emblem for Elks is a circle with an elk in the center surrounded by a clock with the hands stopped at eleven. The clock is surrounded by the letters BPOE - Benevolent Protective Order of the Elks. The Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks had modest beginnings in 1868 as a drinking club (then called the "Jolly Corks") established as a private club to elude New York City laws governing the opening hours of public taverns. It has since evolved into a major American fraternal, charitable, and service club with more than 1.1 million members in more than 2,100 local lodges nationwide. An interesting physical artifact of the order is the number of communal cemetery plots once favored by the group. Often these are marked with impressive statuary.