The Moose Are Loose in Queens

The Loyal Order of Moose are a service and fraternity organization founded in 1888 by Kentuckian Dr. John Henry Wilson. By 2013 there were over a million members in the U.S., Britain, Canada, and Bermuda, as well as 400,000 in the Women of the Moose. Presidents Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt, Warren G. Harding and Harry Truman have been members, as well as many well-known showbiz and sports figures like Danny Thomas, Billy Martin and Arnold Palmer.

In Queens, there are currently two Moose lodges, on Grand Avenue and 72nd Street in Maspeth and 118th Street near 87th Avenue in Richmond Hill, but a former lodge at Broadway and 41st Street in Astoria is a neighborhood standout, with its arched windows and terra-cotta detailing.

Even though the Moose now graze elsewhere, the front entrance features well-maintained glazed green and gold tiling and exquisite chiseled nameplate — that double O is excellently rendered. The “No. 485” was the old lodge number.

Both the lodge number and the date of construction are inscribed over the door and on a cornerstone — you’d wish every building could do something similar, perhaps including the architect.

Kevin Walsh’s website is Forgotten New York. His book of the same name can be found in the better bookshops, and some of the not-as-good ones.