Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes
A meeting held in the Moose Hall at 1234 3 Avenue North in the 1960s.
Civic clubs like the Odd Fellows, the Moose, the Eagles, the Shriners, and more have been part of the community landscape over the years. One that has faded from the Lethbridge is the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes, also known as the Buffaloes or the Buffs.
The Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes (the Buffaloes) had their beginnings in England in 1822. Like most orders, the Buffaloes have a motto: nemo mortalium omnibus horis sapit, meaning no man is at all times wise. They meant for the motto to promote the membership to pursue their stated goals of justice, truth and philanthropy.
The first Lethbridge Lodge of the Buffaloes, number 4106, was founded by George Organ in 1923. Most of their meetings were held in the Higinbotham Block downtown. In 1951 the Army, Navy & Air Force Club became their new meeting place. Lodge 4106 joined a network of other Buffalo lodges in Calgary, Edmonton and Medicine Hat. In November of 1926, a second lodge, number 5861, formed in Lethbridge. This new lodge held their meetings at the Moose Hall in north Lethbridge.
People joined the Buffaloes from all walks of life, from miners to business people to veterans. The Buffaloes held weekly meetings and donated money to community organizations. However, the Buffaloes were rarely covered by local media, making researching their activities in the public record difficult. The Lethbridge Herald reported mainly on their meeting and convention dates, as well as noting affiliation with the Buffaloes in obituaries when one of their members died.
After 1955, the Buffaloes seemed to gradually fade away from the landscape of civic clubs in Lethbridge. Buffalo lodges are still active in parts of the world, with the nearest active lodge to Lethbridge located in Medicine Hat.
The Galt Museum & Archives has many documents and objects related to the history of Lethbridge’s fraternal societies like the Eagles, the Moose, and the Odd Fellows. You can search for them in our database at collections.galtmuseum.com.