CONCATENATED ORDER OF HOO-HOO

Photo courtesy: Hoo-Hoo, The Fraternal Order of the Forest Products Industry

CONCATENATED ORDER OF HOO-HOO (Black Cats). A national social organization exclusively for lumbermen and dealers, the group existed in Dubuque around 1898. (1) At the height of the organization’s popularity, membership totaled more than 13,000. The first club established outside the United States was founded in Canada in 1924; other groups were formed in places as far away as Australia. The order had more than 3,500 members in 2004, but membership had fallen to 2,500 by 2014. The headquarters of the order and its museum are located in Gurdon (Clark County),Arkansas, the town where Hoo-Hoo originated.

The order, the oldest industrial fraternal organization in the United States, was established on January 21, 1892, when six men saw a need for an organization to promote unity and fellowship among lumbermen and to prevent a possible split caused by the lumbermen’s broad range of pursuits. These six men--Bolling Arthur Johnson, a journalist of Timberman in Chicago; George Washington Schwarz of Vandalia Railroad in St. Louis; William Starr Mitchell of the Arkansas Democrat; William Eddy Barns of the St. Louis Lumberman; George Kimball Smith, secretary of Southern Lumber Manufacturers’ Association; and Ludolph Adalbert Strauss of the Malvern Lumber Company—began discussing the idea of an organization for lumbermen.

Photo courtesy: Forest History Society

Meeting in the Hotel Hall in Gurdon, Arkansas, the men set up the basic beliefs of the order. Hoo-Hoo was to be an organization comprising men with high ideals, and the order’s motto became “Health, Happiness, and Long Life.” The group decided that the board of directors would be called the “Supreme Nine.” The names of the directors were: Snark of the Universe (president), Bojum (chaplain), Scrivenoter (secretary), Gurdon (sergeant-at-arms), Senior Hoo-Hoo, Junior Hoo-Hoo, Custocacian, Arcanoper, and Bandersnatch (later changed to Jabberwock). Some of these names were derived from Lewis Carroll’s Hunting of the Snark, which one of the founders had recently read. The name “Hoo-Hoo” had a unique origin. In Kansas City, about a month before the founding of the order, Johnson had used the term “hoo-hoo” to refer to an unusual tuft of hair on the head of Charles McCarer. McCarer became the first Snark of the Universe and was given membership number one. The group was to be a war on conventionality; there would be no lodge rooms with forced attendance; no marching in the streets in protest; no "bothering" anybody; no uniforms or flashy regalia. There would be one single aim: to foster the health, happiness, and long life of its members. (2)

The group chose as its mascot a black cat with its tail curved into the number nine. Originally, Hoo-Hoo membership was to be limited to 9,999 members. The order increased in popularity and number was changed to 99,999. Meetings were held on the ninth day of the ninth month at nine minutes after the ninth hour. Annual dues were $9.99. The initiation fee was $0.99. Initiation fees were spent on the entertainment since the group had no treasurer or any official responsible for handling money. The initiation involved comic ceremonies. After the candidates were officially members, a banquet was served followed by toasts to the new members. (3)

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Source:

1. "Hoo Hoos' Banquet," Dubuque Daily Herald, January 14, 1898, p. 1

2. "A History of Hoo-Hoo International," Hoo-Hoo The Fraternal Order of the Forest Products Industry, Online: https://www.hoohoo.org/our-history

3. "Concatenated Order of Hoo-Hoo," Encyclopedia of Arkansas, Online: https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/concatenated-order-of-hoo-hoo-1199/