The Red Men Hall is a historic clubhouse in

Lagro, Indiana Lagro is a town in Lagro Township, Wabash County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 349 at the 2020 census. History The community was named after Le Gris, a Miami Chief. The Lagro post office has been in operation since 1893. ...

completed in 1911. The

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

listed the building in 2020.

History

The

Improved Order of Red Men The Improved Order of Red Men is a List of civic, fraternal, service, and professional organizations, fraternal organization established in North America in 1834. It claims direct descent from the colonial era Sons of Liberty. Their rituals and ...

is a fraternal organization that established a Lagro chapter or "tribe" in 1888 and named it after the

Tonkawa The Tonkawa are a Native American tribe from Oklahoma and Texas. Their Tonkawa language, now extinct language, extinct, is a linguistic isolate. Today, Tonkawa people are enrolled in the Federally recognized tribes, federally recognized Tonkawa ...

people. The group's rituals are based on perceived Native American customs. As of 1904, the local group had 41 members and, by 1911, was large enough to fund construction of a lodge building, called a "wigwam". However, by 1948, the declining lodge surrendered its charter. Beginning in 2017, the volunteer-based Lagro Canal Foundation has gradually rehabbed the building by replacing the roof, restoring the facade, and removing debris from the interior. The group plans for historic preservation to encourage economic redevelopment.

Architecture

The 1911 building reflects both

vernacular Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...

and early commercial architectural styles. The two-story structure consists of a street-level storefront while the second level contains a meeting room for the lodge. The building shares a common wall with the

Masonic Temple A Masonic Temple or Masonic Hall is, within Freemasonry, the room or edifice where a Masonic Lodge meets. Masonic Temple may also refer to an abstract spiritual goal and the conceptual ritualistic space of a meeting. Development and history I ...

, forming a commercial block. The facade of the building is brick with three

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

and an inlaid "IORM" detail. When the front facade was repointed in 2020, the locally sourced bricks were found to be a non-standard size, so replacements bricks were repurposed from the hidden side wall.

References

External links

Indiana Redmen

Lagro Canal Foundation
{{NRHP

National Register of Historic Places in Wabash County, Indiana Organizations established in 1888 1888 establishments in Indiana 1911 establishments in Indiana Buildings and structures completed in 1911 Clubhouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Indiana Vernacular architecture in the United States Buildings designated early commercial in the National Register of Historic Places 1948 disestablishments in Indiana Organizations disestablished in 1948

History

Architecture

See also

References

External links