K of P Buildings  

Marmont Lodge, 231 Knights of Pythias - History

2nd K of P Lodge 1895-1922

Town board minutes:

July 1, 1895 Be it remembered that the town board of the town of Marmont, met in regular session, at T. B. Harris's office, on the first day of Jul 1895.

Present, T. B. Harris, J.H. Castleman, E. W. Geiselman.

The minutes of the previous meeting were read and approved.

Be it further remembered that the following petition was read:

Marmont, Ind. July 1, 1895

To the honorable Town Board of Marmont} We the undersigned citizens Respectfully solicit your honorable Body to grant us the privilege of the use of (20) Twenty feet of the street along lot No. 28 on Main Street for the purpose of placing building material for a period of not to exceed (90) days.

Frank Cromley
J. T. Cromley


A motion was then made which was also duly seconded, that the named above privilege be granted and also granting the same privilege to the K.P's for the erection of their building. J. H. Castleman and E. W. E. Geiselman voting in the affirmative. The president T. B. Harris declared said motion carried... pg. 108-9

Varying accounts are recorded as to when it was built has been written down as fact as follows:

Daniel Mc Daniel in writing his 1908 history states: -

The K of P decided to build a suitable lodge for themselves. They organized a stock company to do so, the members buying some shares, and the lodge itself the rest, and they ended up with a substaintial two story brick building, the first floor of which could be rented out to commercial interests.

1921 - August 31 - A deal was completed last week whereby the two-story Knights of Pythias Building on Main Street erected in 1895 became the property of W. S. Easterday. Easterday Funeral home Easterday-Bonnie, and then Verl the Barbers

3rd K. of P. Building 1922-?

The K. P. building that exists now was built in 1922 by accounts found and is what is now 110 N. Main Street or formerly the addresses of 110 N & 112 N. Main Street; the James I Barnes Construction company was the builder of the building by a news quip stating James Barnes, contractor was injured.
Before this it was two very separate buildings and they were razed for the new K. P. building to built in 1922 -

Easterday Funeral Home and Culver Post Office

1921 - Oct 19 - The Easterday Building on Main Street has been razed. The Byrd electrical shop, the old post office, is following suit. These buildings were replaced by a two story building between March 9, 1922 and completed sometime before May 31, 1922 by the newspaper quips found detailing the construction period

The limestone cornice pictured on the old building at 108 N Main St. with the K of P logo had been removed from its old quarters and placed over the entrance way to the stairwell to the upstairs

1921 - Oct 19 - The Easterday Building on Main Street has been razed. The Byrd electrical shop, the old post office, is following suit.
1922 - Mar 8 - Material is gradually being delivered for the new K. P. Building. Brick, hollow tile and floor joists have been laid. The building committed and Mr. Solomon, the leasee of the store room, are getting impatient, but Contractor Barnes is evidently waiting for settled weather.

1922 - Mar 15 - Work started quite briskly Monday on the K. P. building. A storage shed was erected and window sashes were delivered and primed. Yesterday's rain temporarily stopped operations. James Seam is foreman of the job.

1922 - MARCH 22, Work has been suspended on the K. P. Building for a week on account of rough weather.

1922 - Mar 29 - One Hundred Years hence - The building committee in charge of the new K. P. building have had sealed in the wall a copper box 14 1/2 X 3 3/4 X 2 inches in which they have places the printed stationary of all the business men of Culver, a copy of the Citizen and a copy of the C.M.A. Vedette. Perhaps some of our grandchildren, more likely our great grandchildren, will be among the business men of Culver, a city of 50,000, by the time the building is wrecked to make room for a skyscraper.

1922 - May 17 Contractor James Barnes had the end of one of his thumbs crushed off in a cog wheel at the new K. P Building the other day.

1922 May 31 - The Solomon Store is moving to the new K. of P. building.

1922 - Jun 14 - Misfortune has attended the setting of the plate glass windows of the new Solomon store. Last week one of the smaller panes slipped from the grasp of one of the workmen and fell to the walk with a crash, and yesterday morning one of the large sheets struck accidentally by a hammer was broken.

1922 july 19 - It is our "paneful" privilege to announce the breaking of another pane of plate glass in the Solomon Store windows. The last one to suffer, the eighth, received a clip from the tinner's hammer when he was putting up the new awning.
1923 Apr. 4 - The new Knights of Pythias Hall was dedicated last evening.

1924 - Jan 17 - Albert Stahl was elected president and F. L. Hunt was elected secretary at the annual meeting of the K. P. Building Corporation.

The History of the building and lot can be found on: 110 N Main