History

The Ambraw – Wabash Council was chartered in 1928. Headquartered in Olney, Illinois, the council’s territory included the counties of Lawrence, Crawford, Jasper, Richland, Clay, Edwards, Effingham, Wayne, and Wabash along with the addition of Marion, Jefferson, and Fayette counties later on. On August 24, 1939, Woapink Lodge #167 was chartered in this council. The Lodge’s commencement ceremony was conducted at Camp Walton near Hutsonville, Illinois by the ceremonial team of Illinek Lodge #132. The early pronunciation of Woapink was WUHL-pank which in translation with the indigenous language of the Delaware Valley Indians means “opossum” or “the wild beast.”  According to one of the early Woapink Lodge chiefs, an unknown scouter saw an albino opossum as he passed through the ceremonial grounds. This good omen prompted the lodge to subsequently adopt the Indian name for opossum as its lodge name and totem in 1939.

When coming to the name Woapink or WUHL-pank, the Delaware Indians used different spellings for the same word.  Dwight W. Bischel, author of the Wabaningo Lodge Emblem handbook (1952) noted the occurrence of a few lodges that had similar definitions, but different spellings.  Bischel stated, “Since the American Indian languages were primarily oral language and not written, it was up to the individual linguist to record the pronunciation of the language using his own method of phonetic spelling.” This information was published in the January 1993 issue of the scouting publication “The Journal”.

The lodge was not very active in its early years. Almost everything was put on hold during World War II. A Lodge patch wasn’t even issued until 1950.

In August of 1953 due to financial difficulties, the Ambraw-Wabash Council’s name was changed to Buffalo Trace Council, and in April of 1954, the council headquarters was relocated to Mount Vernon, Illinois. The counties under the old council (Ambraw – Wabash) remained the same under the Buffalo Trace name.  However, on December 1, 1954, the Buffalo Trace Council was voted to be dissolved and Woapink Lodge was officially split up in March 1955, with 82 Woapink members from Richland, Lawrence, Wabash, and Edward Counties being absorbed by the Kiondaga Lodge #422 of the Southern Indiana Council who immediately changed their name to Buffalo Trace Council after the recently dissolved council prior. The Kickapoo Lodge #128 of the Wabash Valley Council in Terre Haute, Indiana took the 29 Woapink members from Crawford County. The Cascasquia Lodge #81 of the Kaskaskia Council (later becoming the Lewis and Clark Council) took the 52 Woapink members from Marion, Jefferson, and Jasper Counties. This altogether left 52 Woapink members from Fayette, Effingham, and Jasper Counties to stay dormant as the present Lincoln Trails Council, headquartered in Decatur, Illinois, at the time did not have an active OA program to offer due to the active membership in the Firecrafters organization prior to 1955.

Approximately two years later on April 2, 1957, Woapink Lodge #167 was accepted and rechartered into the Lincoln Trails Council with a working OA program based out of Camp Robert Faries located on the shores of Lake Decatur. Even though 1957 is when they officially rechartered, our lodge is considered to have actually been “established” in 1955. That’s when Lincoln Trails Council acquired its first group of ranked Arrowmen brothers proudly wearing their OA insignia during council activities. This is why some Woapink merchandise says “established 1955.”

In 1963, the members of Woapink Lodge constructed a 45-foot-high teepee for the 8^th National Order of the Arrow Conference at the University of Illinois. It was one of the focal points of the conference and brought much national awareness to Woapink Lodge. In 1971, Woapink Lodge again became directly involved with the 12th National Order of the Arrow Conference at the University of Illinois. The Woapink members constructed an Indian village in front of the Assembly Hall consisting of twelve teepees, which was another major attraction of the conference. Woapink Lodge returned with sales orders to build and ship over 100 teepees to other lodges around the country.

In 1980, the base camp for Woapink Lodge was moved to Rhodes-France Scout Reservation near Pana, IL. The land and camp facilities were developed from 1963-1985 under Don Berg who was the Scout Executive of Lincoln Trails Council. This includes the building of the dam and the creation of the two lakes. A campground at RFSR is named in his honor.

In 1987, a distinguished plaque was presented to Woapink Lodge from President Ronald Reagan for operating a successful youth program and the continuous work to maintain the 16-mile Chief Illini Trail near Lake Shelbyville. Lodge Advisor Jim Kalapis was invited to the White House to accept the honor.

30 years later, on September 27th, 2018, Lincoln Trails Council and the Greater St. Louis Area Council (GSLAC), focused in St. Louis, Missouri, merged to form one unified council effective January 1, 2019. Because of the merger of the councils, GSLAC has been able to serve nearly 69,000 youth throughout 64 counties in Missouri and Illinois. Today, Woapink Lodge continuing to serve out of Rhodes France Scout Reservation is thriving under the Greater St. Louis Area Council name along with the lodges of Anpetu-We #100, Nisha Kittan #114, and Shawnee Lodge #51.