About

SPJST's roots run deep in the history of the American fraternal benefit system. During the 1880s and 1890s, many Texans of Czech ancestry joined the nationwide fraternal order known as the Cesko-Slovanska Podporujici Spolecnost (C.S.P.S.). The organization is recognized today as the Czechoslovak Society of America (CSA).

In 1897, there were 27 C.S.P.S. lodges in Texas. Founded in 1854 in St. Louis, Missouri, by Czechoslovak immigrants, C.S.P.S. was organized to provide security for its widows and children upon their death. C.S.P.S. truly laid the groundwork for a modern fraternal in this country, which served as a model for many other fraternal benefit societies in America organized in later years.

In spite of the rapid growth of C.S.P.S. in Texas, considerable discontent existed among the members from Texas and the Midwest. The primary concern was that C.S.P.S. insurance premium guidelines favored the industrial workers in the eastern part of the United States. Those workers had a much higher mortality rate than the people living in Texas. As such, the premiums were considered to be overly expensive.