DERBY – Members of Derby Elks Lodge #571 are inviting the public to celebrate 125 years of history.
To mark the anniversary of the lodge’s founding in Derby in 1900, the club will open the doors to its four-story brick building at 73 Elizabeth St. to public tours. The free tours will coincide with Derby’s townwide celebration May 30 to June 1 in honor of the official founding of Derby being named a township in 1675.
According to Maria Blackwell, Elk’s exalted ruler and historian, the tours will take place from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on May 31 and June 1.
Blackwell said Elks’ members will guide the public through the historic building, stopping at original artifacts, while learning about the Elks’ mission as a community service organization.
“We want to share with the public what we have – our history – which is part of our town,” Blackwell said. “I would love for the public to gain an appreciation of what the Elks organization is really all about. We do a lot of community service, and we try to give back to the community.”
Blackwell and her husband, Paul, recently gave The Valley Indy a tour of the headquarters, which was like stepping back in time.
The building serves as a living history of the fraternal organization.
A small, round table sits near an entryway, complete with a full place-setting. It’s to remember and honor U.S. POWs and MIAs.
Then there’s a large portrait of the benefactor Friend A. Russ, who paid off the Elks’s mortgage in 1917.
Around one corner there is a painting of the U.S.S. Constitution – famously nicknamed Old Ironsides – the ship commanded by Derby native son Commodore Isaac Hull during the War of 1812. The painting’s weathered, brown wooden frame is crafted from pieces of the very same wood that was once part of that ship, Blackwell said.
In the library, there’s a glass case filled with items retrieved from the opening of a time capsule in 2015, which original members placed inside in 1915. Sepia-toned photos of the original 12 members, a distressed ledger containing original meeting minutes and the lodge’s mission and goals are some of the items gracing the cabinet.
The Elks’ main room is the star of the lodge. It features the original avocado green carpeting, worn and weathered over the years, giant Elks head, an air-pump organ with sheet music dating back to 1917 and oversized wooden chairs and benches with plush green velvet cushions.
This is the place where the Elks conduct their bi-monthly meetings, installation of officers and other formal events. Traditions of the founding fathers are upheld in this room, from the ringing of the ancient clock overhead gifted by the first Derby Elks women’s branch, the Emblem Club, to the placing of the antlers on the altar to members wearing bronze and silver jewels around their necks.
Blackwell, when named exalted ruler, wore the same jewels that her predecessor James T. Smith sported back in 1900 during her installation that are also on display in a wooden cabinet.
Paul Blackwell said maintaining the lodge and its many artifacts is a big job but said everybody pitches in in the spirit of ‘brotherly love,’ one of the Elks’s four virtues, followed by charity, justice and fidelity.
The Blackwells joined the Elks in 2022 after renting out one of the lodge’s rooms for a family party. They said they really connected with the Elks’ mission of giving back and wanted to fill their retirement years with meaning and purpose. Maria Blackwell is a former history teacher in both Derby and Oxford public schools, and Paul Blackwell is a retired plumber.
“We joined because we wanted to do something with community service and wanted to be part of a group of people who do a lot for the community and put others before themselves,” Maria Blackwell said.
The Derby Elks has about 378 members. The members participate in all kinds of charity work from helping fill the shelves at the Spooner House’s food bank to awarding annual $1,000 scholarships to Derby High School graduates.
This year, the Elks made a $2,000 donation to the national nonprofit Tunnels To Towers Foundation, which helps Gold Star and families of fallen first responders pay off their mortgages, along with building specially adapted homes for injured veterans and first responders.
The club’s most recent charitable act includes purchase of an outdoor patio set which they’ll donate to a homeless female veterans’ home in New Haven, thanks to a grant the club received.
“We want to give back,” Maria Blackwell said. “That was the tradition of the Elks from Day One.”
For more information about the Derby Elks, or if you’re interested in becoming a member, you can visit their website or Facebook page.
You can also contact the lodge via email at 571sec@gmail.com.
In addition to the various activities the Elks do each month, they also hold many community events.
The latest event is the Elks’ annual fishing rodeo, scheduled for 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. May 17 at Osbornedale State Park. The event is free to kids ages 15 and under. Free fishing equipment will be provided to those who need it.
In keeping with the historical theme happening in Derby this year, here’s the latest list of upcoming events Derby’s 350th Anniversary Committee is hosting, provided by Derby City/Town Clerk and committee chairman Marc Garofalo:
*May 13, 2025 Kick-Off Events
Derby Public Library Clock Ringing – Rededication of Grandfather Clock, Derby Public Library, 11:30 a.m.
Opening Ceremony, Opening of the Time Capsule, Derby Green, 6 p.m.
Musical Concert featuring Tony Susi and Jr. Palmieri, 7 p.m.
*Entire Month of May – Lilac plantings. Alderwoman Sarah Widomski has donated Bare root Lilac planting for free distribution to interested residents. They will be planted throughout the city. The committee is asking interested residents to take one and plant at their homes. Lilacs will be available at the May 13 opening ceremony.
*May 20, 2025
Debut of original song composition written by Derby High School Alumnus Tony Susi and performed by Derby High School Band, 6:30 p.m., Derby High School.
*May 30, 31, and June 1, 2025 – Weekend Celebration
Musical Entertainment
Friday May 30, 2025
Lead Singers of Classic Rock, Jason Scheff – Longtime Lead Singer of Chicago and Tommy DeCarlo – Former Lead Singer of Boston, 8:30 p.m.
May 31, Fleetwood Heart, A tribute to Fleetwood Mac and Heart, 8:30 p.m.
Sunday June 1, 2025
Forjoury, a tribute to Foreigner and Journey, 5 p.m.
Food trucks, kids’ activities, transportation history, craft and merchandise vendors
Other 350th events include:
*350th Summer Concert Series – Series of weekly concerts on the Derby Green, with bands to be announced
*Thursday, July 3, fireworks
*Saturday, Aug. 30 (Labor Day Weekend) – All-Class (Derby High School) Reunion
*Saturday, Sept. 20 – Taste of Derby, Warsaw Park, Ansonia, featuring food from various Derby restaurants
*Saturday, Sept. 20 – Olde Derby Pub Crawl, featuring a party bus stopping at various Derby watering holes
*Friday, October 17 – 350th Gala Ball, THC/Grassy Hill Lodge
*Friday, November 28 – Annual Holiday Tree Lighting, Derby Green, 5 p.m.
*December – Olde Derby Colonial Tree Lighting, Academy Hill Green
*May 2026 – A new time capsule with items collected over the course of the 350th events will be filled and buried.
* Correction: the original version of this story misstated the money donated to the Tunnels to Towers Foundation.