We've been using these weeks of social isolation to do a good deal of rearranging at the Lucas County Historical Society Museum and earlier this week, brought a small but colorful collection of lodge-related memorabilia upstairs to a new home in the Vredenburg Gallery. Among the items was this colorful Knights of Pythias ceremonial ribbon.
The Knights was one of three major fraternal organizations that thrived in Chariton during the latter half of the 19th century and well into the 20th. The Masons, still with us, is the oldest. The other two, which have faded away, were the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.) and the Knights. Each developed an auxiliary as the years passed --- Eastern Star, Rebekahs and the Pythian Sisters.
The Masons were organized in the 1850s, the Odd Fellows in the 1860s and the Knights, during December of 1874. Here's the text of a brief article published in The Leader of Dec. 5, 1874, describing the birth of the order:
NEW ORDER --- On Monday night, Chariton Lodge No. 25, Knights of Pythias, was instituted by R. C. Walker, of Mr. Pleasant, J.B. Herdman, of Fort Madison, and two Knights from Ottumwa. The following officers were elected and installed: A. Reusch, P.C.; J.N. McClanahan, C.C.; R.M. Moore, V.C.; D.M. Thompson, P; E.T. Best, K.R.S.; Moses Folson, M.F.; J.C. Baker, M.E.; Jesse Coles, M.A.; S.E. Carpenter, L.S.; W.B. Critchfield, O.S.; and N.B. Gardner and Cyrus Sprague, K.
The national order had been launched 10 years earlier in Washington, D.C., by Justus H. Rathbone, inspired by the attributes of loyalty, honor and friendship incorporated into the legend of Damon and Pythias. For the first 10 years, only single men were admitted but married men were allowed to join after 1875.
The Knight built all or parts of two buildings on the Chariton square. The smaller structure, dating from 1894, still stands in good repair on the east side. The far grander and somewhat later "Temple" building was on the south side, located on the site of a newer building now occupied by a medical supply firm. Grand Pythian lodge rooms occupied the entire third floor of the latter building, which went up in smoke during 1930 --- and both the fire and its unfortunate timing as the Great Depression settled in sent the Knights into a gradual decline.
The Pythian Sisters survived the longest --- into the early 1980s --- but the Knights have long since closed their books of ritual, packed away their regalia and faded into graveyards.
3 comments:
The KP Lodge met on the third floor of the National Bank &Trust Building. The bank, know as the "Red Bank" occupied the corner lower offices of the bank.
The KP was for men and wives of the membership belonged to the Sisters of the KP. After an
ambitious membership drive in the mid 1940s, the lodge had 300 members. Dances were held on Friday nights. Several pool tables on the south side of the main room accommodated theplayers, including the teen-age children of the members. The lodge quickly declined in the l950s and went out of existence. Submitted by Frank Mitchell.
Throughout at least most of the 1950s and on until the late summer of 1962, the KP's held Friday night dances for teenagers at their meeting place on the third floor of the National Bank and Trust Co. (aka, Red Bank). Mostly the KP folks spun records (for music) but every once in a great while there would be a live band. The dances were well chaperoned by KP members. The dances were always well attended. In a room off to the side of the dance floor, kids could buy pop and snacks. I think it cost a quarter to get into the dance. Those Friday night dances were the place to be for a Chariton teen in those days. The dances probably started a little later on Friday night football and basketball home games. I was never there until after the games because I played lots of sports in high school. The dances always ended at 11 p.m. The place to go after the dances was Engebretsen's restaurant on the west corner of the south side of the square (since burned down). I was in high school from the fall of 1958 through early June 1962. I can remember my older sister, Karen, going to KP dances in the four years prior to when I entered high school.
I never attended a KP dance after leaving for college in September 1962. But I'm pretty certain they continued for at least a few more years. Post by Ed Danner
My Great_Uncle, Paul Paton, was heavily involved in KP. I have actually been searching for any information I can find on Paul (beyond what I've found in the papers) and was hoping to find some sort of KP historian or library. Does the historical society have KP items now?
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