The Michigan Elks was founded in 1904 by the then first State President James O’Hara from St. Joseph Lodge. The first lodge in the state of Michigan was Detroit #34 which is now currently Royal Oak-Detroit #34. The Michigan Elks established the Michigan Major Project in 1957 and the Michigan Elks Charitable Grant Fund (Gold Key) in 1985. There are currently 53 lodges in the state of Michigan. The largest lodge is XXXXX with XXX members. Currently there are 20,000 members throughout the 96,716 square miles of the state of Michigan.