"There is something about the Fraternal Order of Eagles that is different, distinctive, something not to be found in any other Order," an Indiana governor once observed. Other fraternal orders promote good fellowship, do good deeds, provide death payments or provide other benefits for their members, but the Eagles go further than that. They reach outside their own ranks to fight for the welfare of all.

Since February of 1898, when the Order was founded by six theater owners in a Seattle waterfront shipyard, the Eagles not only welcomed the average man as a member, but fought for his right to a life of dignity and self-respect. To call the roll of early Eagle crusades -- for Workmen's Compensation Act, Mother's Pensions, Old Age Pensions and Social Security Laws - is to know what the Hoosier Congressman Louis Ludlow had in mind when he said of the Order, "It reaches out and tries to help in solving the distressing and difficult problems of human relief."

As the late Franklin D. Roosevelt suggested they be, Eagles' crusades are continuing.

"The pen I am presenting to the order is a symbol of my approval of the Fraternity's vision and courage," said Roosevelt when he signed the Social Security Act on Aug. 14, 1935, and gave the pen he used to the Eagles. "May its possession inspire your members to rededicate their efforts and those of the fraternity to the insuring of such economic and political conditions as well being a greater degree of happiness to our people."

February 6 -- the anniversary of the founding of the Eagles -- is a road marker, pointing the way to the future as well as commemorating the progress that we have made. To Eagle programs for Old Age Security, Cancer Research, Youth Guidance and Inter-Faith Brotherhood must be added resolute Eagle support for making democracy work and helping freedom 'ring round the world.' For Eagledom, more than anything else, is a dream -- the dream that ordinary men and women everywhere are entitled to and shall enjoy the right to life, to liberty and to the pursuit of happiness with some reasonable chance of catching up to it in their lifetimes.

• 1898 Order was Founded in Seattle, Washington on February 6th.
• 1908 Sponsored America's First Mother's Pension Law.
• 1911 Sponsored America's First Workmen's Compensation Laws.
• 1923 Sponsored America's First Old Age Pension Law.
• 1923 25th Anniversary.
• 1935 Supported Enactment of Social Security Law.
• 1941 Dedicated Eagle Dormitory at Boy's Town, Nebraska.
• 1944 Established the Eagles Memorial Foundation.
• 1948 50th Anniversary.
• 1950 Financed the Entrance of the Chapel of the Four Chaplains.
• 1953 Established Eagle Haus in Free Berlin, Germany.
• 1957 Inaugrurated Nation-wide "Jobs After 40" Program.
• 1959 Established EAGLE-CARE Trade School in Naples.
• 1960 Dedicated Eagle Hall at Home on the Range for Boys in North Dakota.
• 1961 Dedicated Eagle Village in Florida as Senior Eagle Retirement Home.
• 1962 Established EAGLE-CARE Trade School in Abadan, Iran.
• 1963 Established Eagle House in Beynan, Turkey.
• 1964 Established Eagle House in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.
• 1965 Established Eagle Houses in Israel an Tunisia.
• 1966 Establishment of Ralph Bird Memorial Library at Eagle Village
• 1967 Establishment of Eagles Jimmy Durante Children's Fund.
• 1968 Established Eagle House in Columbia, South America.
• 1969 Established Eagle House in the Phillipine Islands.
• 1970 Established Eagle Ridge Village, Topeka, Kansas.
• 1971 Established Max Schroeder Eagle House in South Korea.
• 1972 Established Golden Eagle Fund.
• 1973 75th Anniversary.
• 1974 Established Jimmy Durante Eagle House in Managua, Nicaragua.
• 1975 Initiated "Blow the Whistle on Crime" Program.
• 1976 Instituted First European Aerie.
• 1977 Established EAGLES-CARE Weaving Center, Guatemala.
• 1978 Established "Hubert H. Humphrey Eagles CARE School" in Honduras.
• 1979 1st Telethon for Hughen School for Children, Point Arthur, Texas.
• 1980 Eagles' Bob Hope High School dedicated at Hughen School, port Arthur, Texas.
• 1981 Terry Fitzpatrick Firehouse in Alliance, Nebraska.
• 1982 Frank Goffio CARE Center, Chile.
• 1983 Eagles to the Rescue in Poland.
• 1984 Feed the Hungry in Africa.
• 1985 Eagles Anti-Child Abuse Program.
• 1986 Alzheimer's Disease and Illicit Drugs.