Slovene National Benefit Society
Encyclopedia
Slovenska narodna podporna jednota, the Slovene National Benefit Society, is an ethnic fraternal benefit and social organization for Slovene immigrants and their descendants in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Founded in 1904, it is headquartered in suburban Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...

, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 near Imperial
Imperial-Enlow, Pennsylvania
Imperial-Enlow was a census-designated place in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, for the 2000 census. The population at the time was 3,514...

. SNPJ publishes a newspaper, Prosveta.

Formation and growth

The SNPJ was formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1904 when delegates from nine independent Slovenian-American
Slovenian Americans
Slovene Americans or Slovenian Americans are citizens of the United States of Slovene descent.- History :The first Slovenes in the United States were missionary priests. Two of the earliest such missionaries were Fr. Anton Kappus and Fr. Frederick Baraga . In the 1730s some Slovenes settled in...

 lodges met to consolidate into one larger organization with a total membership of 276. In 1905 membership had grown to over 1,500 in 27 lodges. By only 1907 there were almost 4,300 members in 60 lodges. In 1917 the SNPJ, with 16,700 members in 360 lodges, had become the largest Slovene fraternal benefit society in the United States. In 1921, the SNPJ merged with the Slovene Workmen's Benefit Society, or SDPZ, (which had previously absorbed the St. Barbara Lodge and the Slovene Labor Benefit and Pension Union). This merger gave the SNPJ over 36,000 members in 374 lodges. In 1941 the Slovenian Progressive Benefit Society (SSPZ) merged with the SNPJ. The Lily Alliance merged with SNPJ in 1947. Just over twenty years later, in 1969, the Slovene Independent Benefit Society merged with SNPJ. Thirty-two years after that merger, in 2001, the Workingmen's Benefit Society merged with SNPJ.

The first English speaking lodge, Pioneer Lodge 559 of Chicago, was chartered in 1925.

In 1961, all Canadian members were consolidated into a single lodge; in 1971 this lodge was transferred to the Croatian Fraternal Union
Croatian Fraternal Union
The Croatian Fraternal Union , the oldest and largest Croatian organization in North America, is a fraternal benefit society of the Croatian diaspora based out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA....

.

The high point of individual memberships appears to have been in 1950, when SNPJ had 71,554 members. The high point of lodge membership appears to have been in 1946, when SNPJ was composed of 614 active lodges. As of 2002 there were 42,299 members in 170 lodges.

External links

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