Historic Hood River
Welcome Grand Exalted Ruler
11-28-2012
Notes
The Elks dedicated their new lodge on June 6, 1949. They’re still there, and it looks much the same.
The History Museum of Hood River County
Bringing the Rich History of Hood River County to Life
Bill Seaton
In 1958, we held our HRHS Junior Prom in the Elks Club, which made it all the more elegant.
charlott
In our era many of the proms were held at the Elks…I guess that it may have been considered the most elegant place in Hood River, where schools could afford to have their events.
Arlen Sheldrake
Yes, many, many stories about the Elks Club in HR. I don’t remember when father John L. joined but he was a member for many years before transferring to Corvallis in 1961 and is the reason that I continue to be a member although highly inactive. I would bet he is in this picture somewhere.
That is my memory also, a pretty elegant place.
l.e.
Hood River is a town of beautiful buildings.
I always wondered why the Elks building is so drab, non-descript and unappealing in appearance.
norma
A new coat of paint in the last few years did make it more appealing plus shrubs and flowers were planted and a nice new sign. I guess you cannot please everyone.
James
I agree with I.e., what makes the Elks are the people and events there, Not the architectural beauty. 1949 blase, who was the architect?
Bill Seaton
As I recall from 1949, this was considered a modern, attractive building in its day, and a big step up from the basement of the Mt. Hood Hotel where the Elks had been meeting.
Arthur
It seemed odd to me that there were so few people at this event, but then I found some other shots from different angles. There was a larger group of people on the sidewalk on the other side of the street, but for some reason they had not closed off the street so everyone was clustered on the two narrow sidewalks.
Jill Stanford
My grandfather was an Elk –I remember he lunched there often.
lee
I was about 6 or 7 years old and my brother and I would get to go in and we would bounce down the stairs on our bottoms then go into the ballroom and there were some slot machines and Ester Parks would give us a few nickels to sneak into the machines she was a neat lady.
Jeffrey Bryant
My stepfather, Johnny Van Ras, tended bar at the Elks Club. You would be surprised at the stories he can tell, maybe even ones about your relatives!
nels
Great collection of vehicles in the back parking lot.
Arlen Sheldrake
And looking again at the parking lot, how about that view of the Columbia….I don’t remember that view from the Elks lodge.
AndrewB
As you can see on the road, cars used to leak a lot more oil than they do now.
Jeffrey W Bryant
My great grandfather, Robert Vaughan, helped build the Elk’s Club building, and is pictured seated just to the right of the platform.
Jeffrey Bryant
The Hood River Elks Lodge was formed from The Dalles Lodge, the first meeting being held on May 29, 1925, in Hood River, where they had leased the entire top floor of the First National Bank Building.
https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn97071110/1925-06-04/ed-1/seq-1/