The first meeting of Oriental Temple was held on February 21, 1877. The Illustrious Jesse B. Anthony, 33rd degree, was potentate by matter of a dispensation that had been issued by the Imperial Grand Council of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.
Potentate Anthony organized Oriental Temple by appointing subordinate officers, and declared the temple duly organized and ready for business. Each of the original members were able to propose one name for membership for the fee of ten dollars. On February 24, 1877, at a second meeting, no new names were proposed for membership and they were accepted.
The Imperial Council directory indicates that Oriental Temple was constituted on February 27, 1877. Obviously, there was confusion over the numbers 21 and 27. Imperial sessions were held triannualy and Oriental didn't meet regularly. It's next meeting wasn't until December 27, 1878 and then again on October 10, 1885.
The Temples representatives at these functions were Dr. Walter M. Fleming(book), Grand Potentate and founder of the Shrine and W.S.Peterson, Grand Recorder. Both were members of Mecca Temple, the first temple established. Oriental Temple drew members from a much greater area than today. Members came from as far away as Little Falls, Fort Plain, and New Haven Connecticut. On April 22, 1887, Mecca Temple sent two hundred and fifteen of its members to confer degrees on sixty three candidates for Oriental Temple, three from Mecca, and one from Cyprus.
Dues were apparently not assessed during the first ten years of Oriental Temple. A resolution was presented and passed in December 1887 that proposed that annual dues would be one dollar, payable in advance. In December 1887, Imperial Council directed that Oriental select a seal for the temple, which is the same to this day.
In June of 1839, Oriental sent fifty dollars to the victims of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania flood(1, 2, 3). The Imperial Potentate had requested a donation from all the Shrine temples. On November 29, 1889, Oriental made a pilgrimage to Plattsburgh. The Shriners were met at the train station by a band and paraded to the headquarters at the Cumberland House, where there were twenty candidates in waiting. Oriental Temple donated three dollars to each noble making the trip to Plattsburgh, the cost of the the trip by rail from Troy.
Our original minutes from 1897 to 1907 are missing, but during that time, Oriental instituted Cairo Temple in Rutland, Vermont on July 9, 1903. Our first Potentate, Jesse Anthony past away in 1906 after serving for about ten years. At a ceremonial session in March of 1907 held at Germania Hall in Troy, six hundred nobles attended. Alvah Pettie Clayton, the Imperial Potentate of the Imperial Council, gave the obligation to the novices. On September 9, 1913, there was mourning throughout Shrinedom when Most Illustrious Walter M. Fleming, founding father of the Shrine, past away.
Minutes of Oriental Temple indicate that all outings, clambakes, and the like, be halted at the request of the Imperial Potentate. This came during World War I(1, 2, 3, 4). Two members of Oriental died in that conflict. Major Israel Putnam of Saratoga Springs was killed in action and First Lieutenant Clarence H. White of Cohoes succumbed to pneumonia. The end of WW I saw a great increase in membership. In 1919, two hundred and one nobles were created. There were three hundred and forty eight in 1920, four hundred and ten in 1921, and one hundred and fifty eight in 1922, bringing the total membership to two thousand seven hundred and ninety.
Oriental Shrine travelled to many events through the years. At the Imperial Session held in Washington D.C. in 1923, Oriental distinguished itself by it's unique costumes, and had the best of 170 bands, as stated by Great Band Master John Philip Sousa.
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