Organized in 1904 as the Rowena Chapter of the Sons of Hermann, a worldwide benevolent fraternal organization, the Rowena Lodge was named for the German national hero and tribal leader Hermann the Defender, who helped break Roman power east of the Rhine River in 9 A.D. Its first officers were Michelus Feist, president; Julius J. Henkhaus, vice president; Walter Schuhmann, secretary; and Ignatz Olsak, treasurer, and it had ten charter members. The order maintains a youth camp and a home for the aged for members at the town of Comfort.