This iconic 115-year-old three-story building on Third Street in the village of Boiling Springs, severely damaged by a deadly fire on February 4, 2020, is currently being dismantled brick by brick.
The building, constructed in 1906 at a cost of $7,000 ($203,453 in 2021 dollars) has over the years housed the local VFW, various stores, taverns, dance halls, and more recently apartments.
It was originally designed and built to be the centerpiece of the community and the home of the 50 member Boiling Springs Lodge of the Order of United American Mechanics (O.U.A.M.).
When built it housed a retail storeroom and an ‘election room’ on the first floor, a large room with a stage and dressing rooms designed for the village’s public entertainment events on the second floor, and a private ornate lodge room on the third floor.
The hall was formally dedicated and opened on Monday, January 14, 1907. The dedication services began at two o’clock in the afternoon with welcoming music followed by speeches by lodge members and Boiling Springs residents Milton Embick and John Fissel.
Following a choral selection, three of the organization’s statewide officers gave short addresses complimenting the Boiling Springs Lodge on its “fine new hall.” The formal dedication service, including the lodge rituals, was conducted by a national officer of the Order.
A parade through the village which had been planned for that evening had to be cancelled due to inclement weather. Instead, well attended public services were held in the hall at 7:30.
The Boiling Springs O.U.A.M. Lodge was organized in 1867 with just eleven members. This dynamic new three-story brick building replaced the Order’s original wood lodge built in 1870, which was destroyed by fire in March of 1906.
Ironically, almost exactly 115 years later, it is fire that is responsible for the demise of this iconic piece of Boiling Springs history.
d.s.miller, writer 