Red Men's Hall - Green Lane, PA, USA - Improved Order of Red Men on Waymarking.com

Located at the intersection of PA Route 29 (the Gravel Pike) and 63, this lodge was constructed in 1907. Tohickon Lodge No. 386 met here and was made up with made up of men from all walks of life in the Perkiomen Valley.

The three-story Victorian building had with a second floor meeting hall where the Red Men held shows and had all kinds of fund raising events and used the money from them for lodge members’ needs.

For many years the Red Men leased the first floor of the building to the Green Lane Bank and a general store. The third floor of the building, was much more private; a sanctum sanitorium where secret rituals were held. A local historian disclosed that peep hole existed the front door entering the third floor, where visitors would be scrutinized before entering; kind of like a speakeasy during Prohibition.

The building is one of the largest in Green Lane, a hamlet of 450 people. The local Goschenhoppen Hisotrians inherited much paraphernalia when they purchased the building in 1970 and maintain a display honoring the Red Men of Tohickon Lodge 386.

The Allentown Morning Call from 14 November 1996 has some details about some of the artifacts left behind:

'But one artifact the Red Men left to the Goschenhoppen Historians hints at the rituals. It’s a 3-foot high mound of twigs with a red cloth lining the inside. An electrical cord runs to the center and a light bulb lights up a simulated camp fire.

“Part of the ritual before meetings was the camp fire, which to Indians is sacred,” said Roan, a retired history teacher.

The ritual ceremony probably occurred in a large open room on the hall’s third floor. “Speaking tubes” are attached to the doors. Metals tubes on either side of the doors allowed members to peer through and speak the secret password before entering. An outsider could only come in with a brother of the lodge. A teepee was probably placed in the center of the the third-floor sanctuary, Roan said.

“It would have been interesting to see these guys perform,” he said.'

Source for quoted materials: (visit link)


The current use of the building is the Goschenhoppen Historians Museum, the Folk Life Library and a Barbershop.

Type of Location: Lodge Location Description: About 100 yards west of the intersection of PA 29 and PA 63 on the north side of PA 29. Date of Construction: 04/01/1907 Website: [Web Link]

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