Replacing an elk at an Elks Rest

the old elk statue stares over a maintenance building

W. H. Mullins Company of Salem, Ohio made this first statue. In a 1993 Ohio outdoor sculpture survey, given to the Smithsonian American Art Museum, it was noted that the legs had split and were patched with cement; also an antler repair was made. Since then the legs split again, revealing the pipe skeleton. In a ceremony, at Cleveland's Lake View Cemetery, a new bronze elk was dedicated on Memorial Day 2010.

Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks Lodge 18 Willoughby-Cleveland communal graves are marked with a new bronze elk

slabstone with the elk's logo making the hour of recollection (11 p.m.)

The Elks formed in the US in 1868 in New York City mostly of actors. The club came from the previous Jolly Corks. One legacy is the 11th hour toast, "To our absent Brothers". The last hour of the day, is the hour before midnight. They often sing 'Auld Lang Syne' after the toast.

Perhaps this poetic melancholy within a fraternity inspired the community's burial spots within cemeteries. There are four in Ohio (one in Cleveland at Lake View Cemetery) and several more throughout the country. In these spots, it is common for the members to have an elk statue.