The Order of Knights of Pythias is an international, non-sectarian
fraternal order, established in 1864 in Washington, DC, by
Justus H. Rathbone and was the first fraternal order to be
chartered by an Act of Congress.
With four friends, school teacher and federal government employee,
Justus Henry Rathbone founded the Order of Pythias on 15 February
based on "Damon and Pythias", a dramatic play by Irish poet
(1798-1842 ). Rathbone instituted Washington Lodge No. 1 with
charter members on 19 February 1864
"Many new organizations grew directly out of the divisiveness
of the Civil War experience. The Knights of Pythias was organized
in 1864 by a group of federal
clerks in Washington, D.C., who felt that the nation urgently
needed to rekindle
a brotherly spirit. Justus Rathbone designed the ritual, which
is based on the
4th century, B.C., story of the friendship of Damon and Pythias.
Justus Rathbone died on December 9, 1889 at the age of fifty.
Five Original Members:
Justus H. Rathbone,
A. Champion, William H. Burnett, David L. Burnett, and