Greater Astoria Historial Society 35-20 Broadway, 4th Floor | L.I.C., NY 11106 718.278.0700 | www.astorialic.org Gallery Hours: Mondays & Wednesdays 2-5 PM Saturdays 12-5 PM Exhibits ~ Lectures ~ Documentaries ~ Books Walking Tours ~ Historical Research Unique & Creative Content For more information visit us on the web at www.astorialic.org This image adapted from an invitation to the Long Island City Athletics 33rd Annual Masque Ball, 1909. 32 DECEMBER 2015 i LIC COURIER i www.qns.com ■LEGENDS Queens Elks Lodge Number 878 The Queens Elks Lodge Number 878 in Long Island City was destined to become one of the largest Elks lodges, and, to use the lingo of the time, one of the most “well-equipped and decked out” fraternal buildings in the country. But they started humbly enough. Ads in the Long Island Star, the paper of record for Long Island City back in the day, dutifully gave notice of their meetings at 8 PM, on each second and fourth Tuesday of the month, at Smithsonian Hall, a meeting and lecture hall at 3rd Street (now 51st Avenue) and Vernon Boulevard. Although some records have the Elks Lodge # 878 founded in 1903, the date 1908 seems significant – perhaps being when they moved into their new building at 226 Nott Avenue – today 21-42 44th Drive. As Queens began its transformation from sleepy farms and hamlets into a mega-suburb of millions, it was the borough of choice. The Lodge attracted a number of the city’s civic, business, and political leaders at the time. A good example would be Edwin O’Malley, a cotton salesman who became a Democratic party ‘ward heeler’ for Tammany Hall, and was appointed as the Commissioner of Public Markets for New York City by mayor John F. Hylan. His son, Walter O’Malley – would later go on to become owner of the Brooklyn (then Los Angeles) Dodgers baseball team. It was no surprise, that, when their meeting hall outgrew its facilities in only six years, they retained the services of one of the leading architects of the time, Harold Van Buren Magonigle. In New York, in addition to the Elks Clubhouse, he designed the New York’s Fireman Memorial on Riverside Drive and the USS Maine Monument at Central Park and Columbus Circle. A lady’s auxiliary started in November 1914. In 1917, a member from South Carolina actually brought a real moose to a meeting. Dubbed ‘Stonewall Jackson’ and later ‘Queensboro 878’ the animal was quickly given a home in a zoo in Forest Park, A few months later, ‘game to the last,’ he jumped a fence and was killed in traffic. They had his head mounted and displayed proudly in their reception room. The club’s fame grew far and wide. They became a force to be reckoned with. By 1920 lodge membership had grown to 2,300. On one cold February night in 1921, 1,100 Elks crammed into their small Long Island City building to argue over where the new Queens lodge should be built. The debate persisted until 3 a.m.— kept fiery, no doubt, by the liquor that, even during Prohibition, was plentiful at Elks gatherings. Choosing the then-fashionable suburban setting at 82-10 Queens Boulevard, the group built the largest Elks Lodge on the East Coast. For the next half century, it became the headquarters of one of the most powerful political institutions in the history of Queens. In 1925 Father John Clark, Chaplain, and former Queens County Sheriff and proprietor of an undertaking business, Thomas M Quinn organized the Colon Council #309 of the Knights of Columbus. The building found a new life when the Knights moved in. They would stay until 1969. Next: A careless demolition or community center?
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