Post 90 History
The American Legion William Giroux Post number 90 was organized on Dec 10, 1919, with Claude Cooper as its first Commander. The old post was a two-story wood-frame building on Fourth St, across from the Village Hall. The ground floor contained the club bar, restrooms, and Commander’s office. The indoor side entrance leads to the second floor, a large meeting room, and a fully equipped kitchen. The American Legion used the upstairs rooms for their monthly meetings.
This building was the meeting hall for the former Saint Jean Baptiste Society, a French-Canadian Catholic Society. It was later purchased by Charles and Randell Heide and used as the 400 Bar. When the Heide brothers moved their bar to the Main Street (Loading Zone II) in 1954, the American Legion purchased the building.
The Legion members initially met upstairs above the Lake Linden Pop Co, which later became the Mountain Valley Water Company. The Legionnaires then rented the old McKinley School, which was located across from the bank. When the Knights of Columbus later purchased this building, the Legion members continued to lease the meeting’s kitchen area. Finally, in 1954 they bought the building from the Heide’s.
The year 1985 saw Gerald T. Heikkinen as commander, Kenneth a Treidel as Adjutant, Marvin Dessellier as Finance Officer, and David Barkell as Chaplain. This organization had 167 members in 1985.
In 2005 a building committee was formed, and the plans for a new post were started. The job of building the original Post was given to MJO Construction. Construction was created on August 2nd, 2005.
The old Post remained open while the new Post’s first stage (bar) was being built. This stage was completed on December 4th, 2006. The old bar and building were shut down, and the new bar opened on December 9th. The Legion held its meetings at the Village Hall during the second stage of the building project.
On December 12th MJO Construction tore down the old Post in 4 hours. The second half of the building project started. The meeting room floor was poured on January 30th, 2006, and the first meeting in the new building was held on April 7th, 2006. The building was not quite finished at that time. A Grand Opening was held on May 4th, 2006.
