In the 1800s, fraternal organizations were often viewed with suspicion. Their closed meetings, passwords, and initiation ceremonies led outsiders to imagine something dark and dangerous happening behind lodge doors. Political cartoons and newspaper satire turned that fear into a symbol: the blindfolded candidate “riding the goat,” a comic image meant to mock secret rituals as strange and even diabolical. In response, fraternal societies did something remarkable — they took the joke and made it their own.

 

By the early 1900s, the goat had been transformed from an accusation into a shared laugh. It became a lighthearted way to talk about initiation, a way to welcome new members, identify old members, and a reminder that fellowship included humor as well as solemn promises of mutual aid. When someone asked, “Did you ride the goat?” they were really asking, “Are you a member?”

 

For many of the immigrant families who gathered in this hall, the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff was familiar – a tale of crossing a bridge guarded by something frightening in order to reach better ground on the other side. Fraternal initiation carried a similar emotional meaning: you passed through uncertainty, followed those who had gone before you, and emerged safely within a community.

 

Here in Valton, Ernest Hüpeden painted the goat into his murals – a wild-eyed creature racing through the trees with a startled rider clinging to its back. The image captures the folklore every lodge member knew. And below that mural stands the wheeled initiation goat – It is the actual mechanical goat used in the MWA Camp 6190 initiation. MWA camps purchased their mechanical goats from the national headquarters in Rock Island, Illinois. Mechanical goats were industrially manufactured in the Midwest – commonly by DeMoulin Bros. of Greenville, Illinois – and shipped by rail to lodges across Missouri, Wisconsin, and the nation.

 

The murals around the hall speak of protection, home, and family – the serious purpose of the Modern Woodmen. The goat reminds us that becoming a member was also an experience of laughter, performance, and belonging. The goat marked the moment you stopped being an outsider and became part of the group.

 

“Hey, did you ride the goat?”