Green Lake Builds a Temperance Hall Out of Cordwood and Muscle
In less than two months, the brothers of Good Templars Lodge No. 200 raise a two-story hall at Green Lake with donated lots and lumber bought with 'legal tender' issued from the mint of muscle.
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The dedication of the new Good Templars hall at Green Lake Saturday evening was the principal event of the week among temperance circles. Despite the inclemency of the weather, more than a hundred members of the order, representing nearly all the lodges of the city and suburbs, assembled to aid Green Lake Lodge, No. 200, in the interesting exercises of the evening. There was a general attendance of the residents of the Green Lake vicinity, and the spacious new hall was crowded to the doors long before the opening of the exercises.
The dedicatory exercises were conducted by Grand Chief Templar Allen, assisted by the officers of Green Lake lodge. After the dedication ceremony a literary and musical programme was presented. Messrs. Rogers and Weedin gave an interesting account of the efforts which led up to the successful completion of the great enterprise of erecting a lodge hall. Remarks were made by Rev. Clark Davis and George P. Cotterill, D. R. W. G. T., who were the organizers of the Green Lake lodge a little more than one year ago. Fraternal greetings were extended by Brother W. Keillor, lodge deputy of Garrison Lodge, No. 16, of Vancouver barracks, a soldier of the regular army now stationed in the city. After the conclusion of the public meeting an interesting "good of the order" session was held, attended by nearly a hundred visiting Good Templars and members of the local lodge.
The hall is a substantial, two-story edifice about 40x80 feet. The lots were donated by Hon. W. D. Wood, and the building is a monument to the energy, perseverance and loyalty of the members of Green Lake lodge. As expressed by Brother Weedin, "We found that cord wood was legal tender." The lumber was purchased with that sort of "legal tender" issued from the mint of muscle and freely donated by the brothers of the lodge. Willing hands of loyal workers erected the building, and the windows, doors and furnishings were paid for by cash donated in the same good cause. It is less than two months since the enterprise was first decided on, but the hall dedicated on last Saturday evening proves that the people of Green Lake are workers rather than talkers. Although the youngest of the cluster of lodges in the Queen City and suburbs, Green Lake Lodge, No. 200, is today one of the best equipped for the work of the order, with an earnest band of faithful workers, a live juvenile temple, a permanent headquarters and place of meeting, and a community free from saloon influence.
“"We found that cord wood was legal tender."”
The Good Templars were part of a temperance crusade that would triumph when Washington went dry in 1916, four years before national Prohibition—and that experiment's failure still shadows how the state regulates alcohol today. The self-built hall at Green Lake is a reminder that movements often began not in legislatures but in neighborhood meetings and donated lumber.
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