"From our point of view, it's quite sad, but it was impossible to keep going with so few active members,'' lodge member Fraser Muldrew said.
Along with Alan McLea, Graham Robinson and Don Louden, they have more than 200 years of membership with the lodge.
In early March, the lodge wound up with a final meeting at Enfield, attended by 17 members.
It has 64 paid-up members spread all around New Zealand and even two in Australia. The last "new member'' joined in December 1994.
But when it came to the regular meetings, only five or six could attend. At times, there were not enough to make a quorum.
Some members have family links with the lodge going back generations. Mr McClea's grandfather, William McClea, was the first Noble Grand when the lodge was established in 1891.
It was one of five IOOF lodges in North Otago; now only three remain. Papakaio closed in 1970.
That reflects the ups and downs of the rural communities they served and changes in society.
The 64 existing memberships will be transferred to the Grand Lodge in Dunedin, and Waiareka members can apply to transfer to other lodges in North Otago.
But Enfield will not entirely lose its links with the lodge.
The lodge did not have its own building, but met in the community-owned hall.
The honours board above the hall's double entry doors will remain, along with the Bradley Cup, Waiareka being the last lodge to win it.
The honours board of lodge members in two world wars will also stay, along with historic photographs in the kitchen.
All the minutes of lodge meetings and photographs will go into the North Otago Archives. The lodge's charter and list of members will be handed to the North Otago Early Settlers Association.
The Waiareka Lodge was formed as a branch of the Independent Order of Oddfellows (IOOF) in March 1891, in a blacksmith's shop on the corner of Airedale and Weston-Ngapara Rds at Weston.
The public meeting quickly decided to form a lodge based at Weston, but it took considerable discussion before the name Lodge Waiareka was chosen.
The lodge started with 19 members. Most were either farmers or labourers, although there was a schoolmaster, carpenter and blacksmith.
The official opening of the lodge was on March 21, 1891, at a banquet in the Weston Hall. After the banquet, the new members were initiated.
Most of its foundation members were immigrants from England, Scotland, Ireland and the Victorian goldfields in Australia.
Initially, the lodge meet at Weston - the centre of Oamaru stone quarrying - but transferred to Enfield in 1900 because of the downturn in quarrying and the building industry.
The move turned out to be a good one, seven new members being initiated at the first meeting at Enfield on June 15, 1900.
Since formation, it has had 426 members.
By 1909, there were 87 members, a major turnaround for the lodge, which had faced extinction.
The occupations of those first members reflected both the times and the social structure of the community.
In time, many of those occupations were superseded by mechanics, truck drivers, field officer, salaried clerks, television servicemen and recyclers.
Distinct growth phases in membership occurred with the return of servicemen - in both 1919 and 1945 with the end of the two world wars - wanting to become active in and make a contribution to the community.
The lodge was well known for two annual social events: the Lodge Ball and the "old members' night''.
The ball, held for decades in the Enfield Hall, was regarded as a high point in the area's social calendar.
The "old members' night'' drew a large crowd of members back to Enfield and a big representation from other lodges. There were centenary celebrations in March 1991.
