By Barbara Quinn | the North Peninsula Review
In a shock move on Friday, November 15 at noon, the national governing body of The Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Grand Aerie, shut down the 54-year-old North Portland Lodge at 7611 N. Exeter in the Portsmouth neighborhood. The locks were changed while members were still in the building. All scheduled events at the Lodge are cancelled due to the closure.
in North Portland.
Last month the governing body forced the local Lodge members to vote to either disband (surrender their charter) or downsize and move from their current building at 7611 N. Exeter.
A representative of the Grand Aerie told members they would be given time to find a new building. Questions were taken, but the only choices presented for the vote were those two. Between 40 and 50 current members were present for the special meeting. Some opted not to vote but were told if they didn’t, the representative could act as a proxie and vote for them. The majority voted to downsize rather than disband.
The North Portland Eagles Lodge #3426 was largely unused during COVID pandemic but over the last year the charter has been reconstituting, adding members (currently at 170+), and activating the building with more events. The fraternal order’s motto is “People helping people,” which serves as a basis for its tradition of charitable activities.
The sudden closure has shocked, saddened and angered many members. “No notice. No documentation. No nothing!” asserted Cliff Schrock, who holds the title of Worthy Chaplin of the Lodge. Local members called Seattle headquarters who confirmed the closure. Grand Aerie representatives took all the cash from the local when they changed the locks.
Schrock recalled, “We had a good meeting on Thursday. Financials looked good. We had three new members.” But on Friday, workers suddenly showed up to change the locks. On Sunday, a representative of the Grand Aerie is scheduled to open the doors to allow members into the Lodge to retrieve their belongings.
Within the last 6 months, the Grand Aerie purchased another Portland lodge property, the abandoned 4904 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Eagles Lodge. They bought it at a fire sale price. It was also owned by the North Portland Eagles. However, funds from that sale were withheld from the local Lodge, while the Grand Aerie required them to perform deferred maintenance and upgrades to the North Portland property.
The N. Exeter Eagles Lodge property consists of a 20,000 square foot building and a 1¼ acre parking lot. It is currently valued at between $4 and $5 million dollars.
The building has been a large community events center for over 50 years and has played a substantial role in the North Portland community. Besides being a meeting place for the Eagles, the Veterans for Foreign Wars, Alcoholics Anonymous, and other community organizations, it has hosted a popular Sunday Swap Meet for many years, as well as fundraisers, wrestling, dances, auctions, weddings and celebrations of life.