Umpah Lodge

Umpah lodge 6 was founded in 1921 by John Getz in Uniontown, PA. A member of Unami lodge 1 who had moved west and became the local Scout Executive. Once the Council’s First-Class council was formed in 1920, Mr. Getz sent a formal application “for the institution of a lodge of the Wimachdendienk” to E. Urner Goodman, Scout Executive in Philadelphia on June 7, 1921. Umpah lodge’s totem was a white buffalo. Eventually after several attempts to keep the lodge afloat they chose to be considered inactive in 1925. Later they were reformed into Wagion Lodge 6 after the Fayette county council was absorbed by the Westmoreland county council, forming the Westmoreland-Fayette Council. Westmoreland council did not have a Lodge of the Wimachdendienk instead having their own honor society named the Society of the Wigwam, which was formed in the late 1920’s. Westmoreland County Council’s lack of an OA lodge allowed Umpah(now Wagion) to be the oldest unmerged Lodge in the nation.