Presently its a dusty lot with a pile of concrete and plenty of memories of what once was, but Elks members on Riverside Drive expect to walk into a new 10,000 square foot building in less than a year.
The Elks gathered to break ground on that new building, after a six year effort to get it built.
The builder is Dan Hartley who said it should take about eight to nine months to complete.
"We're getting started, we're ready to put some concrete back into the ground," Hartley said.
The new home of the Elks will be built on the site of the old building for an estimated one million dollars.
Building Committee Chairman Jim Pilgrim said it was a milestone.
"We started in 1997 trying to devise a way to build a new lodge," Pilgrim said.
"It's finally worked out after six years, we've got a lot of work ahead of us, but this is a start."
Pilgrim said the money for the new lodge was raised by selling six acres of Elks property to developers.
A long time Elk who got his start back in 1936 recalled what it was like for him when he joined.
Carl Loef remembered 67 years ago when he joined at age 21 in Athens and young men were allowed in the lodge.
"They didn't have enough young people and the old men just sat and played poker and smoked cigars and they never were very active", Loef recalled.
Loef said it all changed when the younger men came in and became active.
As for the new Elks Lodge,the 88 year old Elk said it was very nice.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2003/6/176885