B.P.O.E. 102 (former) - Altoona, Pennsylvania, USA
Posted by: 
ted28285
N 40° 30.005 W 078° 24.115
17T E 720157 N 4486506
A former B.P.O.E. Lodge located along 12th Street in Altoona, PA
Waymark Code: WM16NG0
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 09/04/2022
Views: 2
The 4-story brick building has a small concrete balcony with the lodge name embossed on it. This balcony is located on the front center of the building just above the first floor.
BPOE Lodge No 102 of Altoona, PA was founded in 1888 and was active through at least the mid 1950's.
"ALTOONA LODGE B. P. O. ELKS
Organized October 6, 1888, With Twenty-Three Members, Now Has 480.
OCCUPIES HOME OF ITS OWN ON TWELFTH STREET
Following is the fourth in a series of articles on the history of Altoona Societies:
Few Altoona people know that the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, which is now one of the strongest and one of the most influential lodges in the city of Altoona, started with only twenty- three members and by the end of ten years had only about eighty. This lodge, which now has 480 members and which owns one of the handsomest lodge homes in this section of the state, was founded in Altoona on October 6, 1888, with the following twenty-three gentlemen as charter members: W. C. Westfall, H. E. Ferguson, Jacob S. Stier, H. J. White, W. J. Hamor, W. S. Jackson, H. W. Dunham, C. L. Miller, C. W. Kerlin, A. P. Sharp, William Eberhart, E. A. Bolmer, J. A. Neff, I. C. Mishler, C. E. Wilbar, W. L. Baker, C. T. Weiss, Frederick Horst, H. J. Lape, J. V. Westfall, Jacob Stauffer, Thomas Baltzell and William Plack.
On August 15, 1893, the order moved into the Nicholson block, into the rooms now occupied by the Knights of Columbus. It was after moving into these quarters that the lodge started to boom and it grew to such proportions that the members began to think of a building to be used exclusively by the Elks. A committee was appointed, therefore, and the present magnificent structure on Twelfth street between Twelfth and Thirteenth avenues was erected and furnished at a cost of $75.000. The society was retarded somewhat in the occupation of its home by the great fire that destroyed the Rothert and Mishler theatre buildings, and badly damaged the new Elk home, then in course of construction.
Altoona Tribune, Altoona, Pa., Monday, October 16, 1911, page 4" Source