Order of Alhambra Order of Alhambra The International Order of Alhambra is a Catholic fraternal order founded on February 29, 1904, in Brooklyn, New York, by William Harper Bennett. Since then it has spread throughout the United States and Canada, with plans to expand throughout the rest of the world. The order, open to men and women alike, currently has "caravans" active in New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, New Jersey, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Texas, California, Washington D.C., as well as a handful of "caravans" in Canada. The Order derives its name from Alhambra, the Moorish palace in Granada, Spain,
Moorish Castle and terrain involved, and the fact that mechanical transport on land was not then in use. The strategic importance of Gibraltar rose in the last years of the Moorish rule, when, after the successful Spanish reconquest of the entire Guadalquivir valley, Gibraltar became one of the key elements in communication between the Kingdom of Granada and Moorish domains in northwestern Africa. Construction of the Moorish Castle commenced in the 8th century AD (possibly AD 711); the date of its completion is not recorded. Its walls enclosed a considerable area, reaching down from the upper part of the Rock of Gibraltar