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History of Wakefield Council No. 104

Researched by P.G.K. Robert P. Curran

A group of men led by the Rev. Michael J. McGivney, a curate of St. Mary’s Parish in New Haven, was granted a charter by the state of Connecticut on March 29, 1882 for the start of the Knights of Columbus. It was some twelve years later in Wakefield that John William Smith talked to William H. Butler about the possibility of starting a local K of C Council.

The duo decided to send a letter out to some men they thought would make good members of such a group and set up a Sunday afternoon meeting September 16, 1894 in the room used by St. Joseph’s Christian Total Abstinence Society in the Connell & Curley Block on Main Street. It was agreed at that informal meeting that a K of C organizer would be asked to explain the organization in detail. The following Sunday September 23, 1894 Thomas F. Cummings arrived to explain the K of C. About 20 men passed a K of C examination and agreed to set up the Wakefield Council the next Sunday. On September 30 and October 7 the first 22 members were initiated, the first and second degrees being conducted by Woburn Council and the third degree by District Deputy William F. Kennedy.