hclib:

Elks Lodge #44 Part I

Here are some images from the Elks Lodge that was located at 9-11 South 6th Street (1900-1912.)

Lodge #44 was founded in 1886.  They moved from 101 S. Washington Avenue (1886) to 241-245 NicolletAvenue (1895) to 9-11 South 6th Street in 1900. 

Although the lodge looks like a great place to hang with your buds, it had a dark side.  The Elks had a “whites only” membership clause until 1973.  Another article noted Golden Valley denied a liquor license to Lodge #44 because of its “whites only” clause in 1972.  In 1974 an African-American, George Gibbs of Rochester was denied membership in the Rochester Elks Lodge after the “whites only” restriction was lifted because 8 members of the lodge rejected the application.  Only 3 members needed to dissent to deny membership, that also threatened the Rochester Lodge’s liquor license.

In 1898 a more inclusive, mostly African-American group called the Improved Brotherly and Paternal Order of Elks was formed.  In 1973, when the race ban ended, they had 150 members in Minneapolis.  Locally they had Elks Lodge #106 at 1614 Plymouth Avenue for many years.  In 1985 the lodge lost its liquor license due to the violence around the club.  A.W. Wilson, the lodge’s exalted ruler, saw a racial motivation in the city council’s action, ” We feel the undertones. We’re the only black-owned bar in the city, just look around.”

These photos are from our file on the the Elks, which is in our Fraternal Organizations subject file.

More on the Elks tomorrow. 

Really impressed with HCL’s use of Tumblr so far.

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