Ground broken on new Elk's Lodge

Taking part in the groundbreaking for the new Mountain Home Elk's Lodge were, from left, Lodge Trustee Jack Donahue, contractor John Cristobal, Jr., Mayor Tom Rist, Exalted Ruler Bill Thurber, Past Exalted Ruler Lynn Fincher, Kieth Mills, District Deputy, Grand Exalted Ruler, and Ron Fry, president of the lodge's past exalted rulers.

The Mountain Home Elk's Lodge will rise from the ashes of the September 2007 fire that destroyed the old lodge, following groundbreaking ceremonies held Tuesday morning.

"We're very excited," said Bill Thurber, this year's new Exalted Ruler for the Mountain Home Lodge. Since the fire that leveled the building 18 months ago, the Elks have been conducting most of their business in a temporary building adjacent to the old lodge site.

"The Elks Lodge has been a landmark in this community, and we're coming back," Thurber said.

During the brief groundbreaking ceremonies Tuesday morning, Thurber thanked a number of people, including lodge trustee Jack Donahue" who put in 18 months of work on this. I would have given up long ago." And he thanked former Exalted Ruler Lynn Fincher, "who is the cause we're here," he joked. Fincher was the exalted ruler when the lodge burned down, and when the temporary lodge also suffered a major fire the following year.

Mayor Tom Rist, who also is a member of the lodge, told the crowd of more than 70 people who showed up for the groundbreaking that the community was "certainly looking forward to this happening.

"The lodge means a tremendous amount to the city," he said, adding that without it a number of community events had had to be curtailed or canceled.

The old lodge was a major community facility, serving as the city's main resource for large banquets, weddings and other activities. Since its destruction groups, including the Elks themselves, had scrambled to find other facilities, such as the much smaller American Legion Hall, to hold some of their major events.

The old building had banquet facilities for 325. The new building, which will be largely a metal frame structure, will have a flexible banquet facility arrangement that, at maximum capacity, can handle more than 400 people.

C2 Construction is the prime contractor for the new building, and according to Thurber the new 14,000-square-foot lodge should be completed no later than Dec. 1 of this year.

There wasn't much left from the old lodge following the fire, but according to Elk lodge Trustee Jack Donahue, some of the Arizona flagstone that had been at the front of the building was saved, and will be used for part of the entrance to the building and the four pillars that will hold up the entrance canopy.

The Elks had originally hoped to have the new lodge completed by then end of last year, but Donahue said part of the delay was due to problems with the insurance company. He said that, while the company had no problems in determining the replacement cost of the old building, which had been built in the early 1960s, it wanted to pay only two-thirds of the replacement cost initially, and then the final third once the building was completed.

But Donahue said the Elks' leadership refused to obligate their 300 members to any debt. "We're not in any position to borrow any money," he said. "It just wasn't something we wanted to do." It took several months of negotiation with the insurance company to get all of the money released, he said.

The Elks learned late last week the money would be available and C2 Construction officials said they could begin work Tuesday.

Donahue said the building could be open as early as Thanksgiving if all things go well and weather permits, "and that would be nice because we've already had the firemen contact us about their (annual) fireman's ball."

He said as soon as the basic frame of the building is completed (less furniture, fixtures, equipment and utilities), which he anticipates could be as early as some time in May, the Elks will begin accepting reservations for events at the facility.

Donahue acknowledged that the loss of the old lodge had had a major impact on the community.

"For so many years it was taken for granted that it was there, and then, suddenly, it was gone."

But, Thurber added, even though the lodge no longer existed "we were still able to fulfill all our Elks obligations while we were here" in the temporary building.

The temporary facility will remain in use until about two weeks before the new lodge is ready to open.

A major dedication ceremony for the new lodge, with representatives of Elks lodges and leadership from throughout the region, will be held in early December, Thurber said.