The
Ladies Oriental Shrine of North America was founded in 1914 in Wheeling, West
Virginia, as a ladies auxiliary to the Shriners.
There were 32,000 members in 1994.The wives of Shriners had been holding their own social meetings for at least a decade before they organized the Ladies Oriental Shrine of North America on June 24, 1914. They did not get around to legally incorporating their organization until 1954.
Like their husbands, the lady members aim at enjoying themselves as well as promoting good works. As has been the case with a number of the better-run women’s organizations, their numbers have been increasing while all-male organizations have mostly declined or remained stagnant. From 24,000 in the mid-1960s they had risen to 30,000 in the mid-1970s and 32,000 by 1994.