Lorain Fraternal Order of Eagles Burn Their Mortgage – March 1946

The Eagles Building in Lorain was in the news last month when it was announced that the nonprofit group associated with the FireFish Festival (which I enjoy poking fun at) is to acquire the four-story structure.

Well, back in March of 1946, the Lorain Aerie of Eagles was getting ready to finally burn the $225,000 mortgage on its building, which was dedicated back on March 15, 1925.

A mortgage-burning ball was to be held on Saturday, March 16 with music for dancing furnished by Sammy Gerace. Featured vocalists were Kenneth Buda and the Rusty Pipers quartet.

Amazingly, on Sunday a class of 200 candidates were to be initiated into the Eagles!

Several pages of the Lorain Journal was dedicated to the big mortgage-burning event on March 13, 1946 – 71 years ago today. Below is one page of that section.

Back in 2012, I did a “Then and Now” feature on the Eagles Building that included a roll call of businesses that occupied the street level spaces, including the much beloved Cane’s Surplus.