I heard that lodge numbers went away. So, no need to "pick one"...

Lodge numbers did go away when the merging frenzy started years ago. All Lodges use their Council number now and that eliminates duplication or cherry-picking. If you register for a National OA event, they only use the Council number and the old chronoloigcally issued lodge numbers have been stripped. Somefolks still hopelessly cling to the old numbers.

Thanks for the replies. This is sad since it would be nice to have a "number" to identify the lodge and its activities, etc. Oh well, I guess we still have the old numbers.

You can use the old number, but the Lodges have new numbers: the Council number. My Lodge, Timuquan, was chartered in 1946 as Timuquan Lodge 340. I did my Ordeal in 1977 and have been active in the Lodge ever since including many times in various youth leadership and adult adviser positions. I was appointed Lodge Adviser to Timuquan in 2011. I thought that it was doing the membership a disservice to continue using the old number. If someone was to try to register for NOAC or NLS, they need to know that the Lodge number is 089 and 340. They would be unable to register as someone from Lodge #340 since it is now in National's system as #089.

A number is that, just a number.

Tokala,

Respectfully disagree with ya. For some lodges, that lodge number means a lot. I know the youth in my lodge still refer to lodge number number and not the council number. In fact the lodge number is still on the current lodge flap that has come out since the use of council numbers at regional and national events became mandatory.

Sure the numbers are important to some. It was important to me except I realize how much grief it could cause people in some situations. Might as well take the opportunity to educate the members.

We've pulled the old number from patches and just go with the name. I'd rather develop an identity/pride in a name rather than a number.

"I'd rather develop an identity/pride in a name rather than a number."

Unless your lodge happens to have been around since the beginning of the OA and has a low number.
Nentico Lodge#12 was started in 1922, my grandfather joined 1923. My dad was a member too and my son and myself are active members.
Also I'm told that our lodge flap has been unchanged since the beginning, it has the number 12 on it. I hope it stays. I think traditions are important and sometimes we're too quick to discard them.

I take pride that I was inducted in, and served as a youth officer in Unami #1. Changing the Lodge Flap on my uniform was the hardest thing to do.

More than just about anything else, people in the Council I'm in take great pride in their Lodge.
No one, but no one dare mess with anything to do with the Lodge!!
The Council doesn't employ a Ranger, so just about all the work for and at camp is performed by OA members. This work helps all the sections that use the camp, Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts.
The number is as much a part of the Lodge as the Lodge name.
Every patch, every t-shirt, mug and necker has the number proudly displayed.
Youth members take the time to read and learn the history of the Lodge.
Should anyone dare ever say that we are not the second oldest Lodge, they do so at their own risk. (I kinda think that we are the third, but I would never say that out loud!)

I would hope that the people in National who work there are fairly bright?
So as long as no two Lodges have the same number, it ought not be that hard to know and program the soft wear, hard wear or maybe just have a list? That shows that Lodge 6 is Council 502.
Come on, we are not taking about vast numbers, there is less than 400 Councils!
As I see it National makes hard work of things anyway by listing Councils not by the name they carry but by the town where the Council Service Center is located. If that isn't a pain in the neck!
So even if it is only a number?
It really isn't worth messing with and running the risk of upsetting people.
Ea.

I agree about the Heritage thing
Wichita Lodge 35
Northwest Texas Council 587

Losing the Lodge Number is losing part of the Lodge History

Sounds like a done deal. Wonder who decided this and how much input they got (if any) from the field?

I know it's been a few years, at least 5, since national started requiring the use of council numbers instead of lodge numbers. But at the time, lodge numbers were still usable on a local, and I believe sectional, level. I know for NOAC and what not, had to use council number.

I was told that the reason for it was because the folks at national were getting confused with the different sets of numbers. And because lodges are part of a council, the council number was chosen.


Didn't matter that some Lodges are older than the councils they serve.

It started back in early 2000's when merging Councils gained traction. Lodges started to "cherry pick" numbers of older superseded/merged Lodges probably just to try to add some weird value/importance to their patch. It became obvious to me when a Lodge picked #219, the old Calusa Lodge. It makes no sense other than the associated value of a Calusa lodge flap on why someone would choose that number.

National won't prevent a Lodge from using the old chronologically issued number, but a member better know their Council number if they need to register for NLS, NLATS or NOAC.

This dates back to 2003. http://www.oa-bsa.org/annc/opup/OPUP-04-9.pdf