The words “Elks Lodge” might conjure images of cigar smoke wafting through the air, bourbon over ice around a poker table and groups of older men wearing regalia and jewels.
Jim Ray is working to make it mean more than that.
Ray, a trustee of the Danville lodge, wants to bring the local chapter back to life after decades of relative inactivity. He wants to increase diversity in membership, revive philanthropic work and see the historic building on Main Street used for community events.
When Danville’s Elks Lodge was founded nearly 150 years ago, “it meant something to be an Elk,” Ray said.
“You could walk around town and say, ‘I’m a member of the Elks,’ and it had some prestige,” he said. “Today, it doesn’t mean anything. We’re trying to get that meaning back.”
The Danville lodge was established in 1892. It’s been in its current building on Main Street since 1912. But around the 1950s, membership started dropping off, Ray said.
For decades, active members of the Danville Elks have met monthly for business meetings in one room of the lodge, without using much of the rest of the four-story historic building.
Other rooms, and some entire floors, haven’t been used for years. They’ve accumulated furniture, old Christmas decorations, decades of bingo records and other “junk,” Ray said.
He’s working with other trustees of the Elks, like Robert Bragg, to clean the building out, make repairs and bring it back to life.
“We want to use the building for civic events,” Ray said. “There’s a ballroom where events could be held, there’s a full kitchen, a bar, a dining room. … It could even host weekend conventions.”
But there’s a lot of work to do first. Parts of the building have fallen into disrepair after sitting unused for so long. Ray and Bragg are raising money to create an endowment that would pay for the renovation and upkeep of the building.
They’re also working to increase membership and diversity in the group, and they’re starting to partner with local organizations to make the Elks Lodge an active part of the community.
The River District Association hosted its first event in a new Music on Main series, which includes live music downtown and evening hours for many Main Street businesses, on the Elks Lodge’s front porch in July.
The lodge has also hosted several blood drives and events, and it has reinvigorated philanthropic work with local schools.
“It’s amazing how many people jump right on board because it’s such a wonderful building,” Bragg said. “The building entices people, the sense of being part of something that is bigger than yourself.”
Restoring the building: “I want people to feel what it feels like when it’s alive”
The Elks Lodge was founded in New York in the second half of the 19th century. It was created as a philanthropic organization, primarily dedicated to helping veterans.
But the roughly 8,000-square-foot building in Danville is so much more than that.
In its heyday, it had a full-service restaurant, rooms upstairs where traveling members of the Elks could stay, a dumbwaiter that brought fresh food to the rooms, a ballroom, and a game room with poker tables, shuffleboard and darts.
There’s a room with historic artifacts related to the lodge — newspaper clippings about the admittance of women, old photographs and pamphlets, and displayed regalia, jewels and pins.
There’s a candidate holding room for those waiting to be initiated, and a small hatch in the door that can slide open and be spoken into.
And of course, there’s the formal meeting room with its dim lighting, stained glass windows and grand wooden seating for elected officials, like the “exalted ruler” who leads the lodge.
Names of deceased members are written in gold lettering around the walls of the meeting room.
This feature is one of the first things that made Ray think about revitalizing the lodge.
“As I read the names up there, I thought about the local history,” he said. “When this place was founded, it was Millionaire’s Row people. Doctors, lawyers, politicians. I noticed that about 1950, it started shifting to more local business people and middle class folks. After that, it just drops off entirely.”
That inspired him to rebuild membership and to make the organization appealing to all walks of life, he said.
Ray, a native of the area, joined the Danville lodge in 1996. He had moved away to go to college at Virginia Tech, and then he worked outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, for many years. When he moved back, he got “hooked into” historical preservation work.
He was involved in the restoration of a historic courthouse in Yanceyville, North Carolina, about 15 minutes from Danville, and became the president of the historical society there.
“That got me intrigued in saving this building,” Ray said.
When he joined 30 years ago, the roof was leaking badly. That felt more important to Ray than the regular business meetings, he said.
“I always paid my dues, but I didn’t go to the meetings,” he said. “I’m not big on the formalities, and I don’t want to go to a meeting and just sit around talking about nothing.”
Instead, he worked to get the roof repaired. That finally happened about three years ago, and Ray has been ramping up repair efforts since.
“I just decided to try to do something to save this place. If the building just sits here, it’s going to die,” he said.
There’s so much potential to the building, Bragg said. He studied architecture with a concentration in historic preservation, which translates well into this project.
Bragg worked as a jeweler for years at his business, Commonwealth Silver & Goldsmiths, located right across Main Street from the Elks Lodge. It closed last fall after over three decades in business.
“I was kind of insane to let [Ray] talk me into this,” Bragg said. “He said, ‘You’re going to need something to do in your retirement,’ and I was like, ‘Yeah right, I’m not going to take on an old building,’ but here I am.”
Bragg fell in love with the building — its art deco aesthetic, vintage furniture and decor, and its rich history.
“Isn’t it amazing?” he asked, walking through the building on a June afternoon.
“Imagine being in this place when there were gas lights, fireplaces with actual fires,” he said. “And it’s 1912, the roaring ’20s are coming. There’s flappers, parties, and I guess if you’re wealthy, Prohibition ain’t that big a thing.”
Bragg wants to bring this feeling back. He wants to see the large atrium of the building, overlooked by a taxidermied elk that was shot in 1912 in Oregon, full of people. He can imagine weddings held there, with the bride and groom presented on the balcony in the ballroom.
“I want people to feel what it feels like when it was alive,” Bragg said. “And I’ve gotten the impression lately that the building is waking up and coming alive and feeling really good for the first time in many years.”
Cleaning up and clearing out
Nearly every part of the building needs attention, Bragg said.
On the first floor, the atrium and ballroom need to be cleaned and painted.
Downstairs in the basement, Bragg and Ray envision fixing up a former full-service restaurant. They’ve already removed booths and replaced them with the original tables and chairs that they found stored in a room upstairs.
Equipment in a professional kitchen has been removed, cleaned and put back into place.
The bathrooms throughout the building need repairs — there’s only one working toilet in the lodge, and the marble showers, though beautiful, don’t function, Bragg said.
The upstairs floors are “where it starts to get really scary,” he said.
Those rooms serve as storage for furniture, original doors and windows that were replaced, boxes of decor and records, and countless other things that Bragg doesn’t have an explanation for.
A box of bingo records from 1986, a panini press from 1912, receipts for bills paid in 1985, a typewriter, pieces of PVC pipe and lampshades are among the clutter in the upper rooms.
“I don’t think they threw anything away,” Ray said. “It’s just room after room of useless stuff.”
Ray and Bragg started cleaning out the rooms about a year ago, and they’ve eliminated more than 50 cubic yards of garbage so far, Bragg said.
“It’s so rewarding to see progress being made,” he said.
Indoor and outdoor carpeting has been ripped up, doors that were nailed shut have been reopened, and original fixtures have been put on display.
One of the lodge members found the original handles to the front door in an antique shop in Burlington, North Carolina, Ray said. He was able to confirm that they were original by looking at old photographs of the building, he said, and the lodge members raised the money to purchase them and display them inside the front door.
Bragg has aspirations to repair the dumbwaiter system that spans all four floors and the basement of the building.
“Before I’m dead, it’s going to be operational,” he said. “You could have fresh food anywhere in the building.”
Ray and Bragg estimate that it’ll take $2 million to fix up the building entirely. Ray said he wants to raise $250,000 for the endowment in five years, and $1 million in 10 years.
“It’ll take all that and more,” he said. “The whole place needs painted. We’ve already started a few areas where we’ve scraped 120 years of smoke off the walls. “
The last time the ballroom was painted was in 1985, and there have been “10 billion individual cigarettes and cigars” smoked in there over time, Bragg said.
Membership dues won’t cover the restoration cost, Ray said.
There are 65 active members — though there are only about six people involved in the restoration effort — each paying $78 a year to the lodge. Most of that money has to go to the grand lodge in Chicago, Ray said.
Other Elks lodges nearby charge more than that, Ray said, but they also have more to offer. For example, the lodge in Martinsville has an outdoor pool and other amenities for members.
Ray said he hopes that increasing membership and community engagement will bolster the restoration effort.
Making the Elks Lodge “mean something again”
Anyone can be an Elk, although the organization used to be limited to white men. Today, “you’ve got to pass a background check and you’ve got to be a decent person,” and you’re in, Bragg said.
The renovation effort has already inspired membership interest, Ray said.
The recent blood drives, music on the front porch and other events allowed attendees to explore the building. Several people who went to the events expressed interest in joining, he said.
“We’re trying to get some more diversity,” Bragg said. “We just want people involved who recognize the need to give back. When you’ve been blessed by a community and you have achieved a station of success, you join an organization like this that gives back to the school children, the veterans, the community.”
Ray wants to see the space used for community events, local meetings and maybe even weekend conferences.
They are planning a singing waitress dinner, where the waitstaff perform live musical numbers while serving, in the renovated restaurant on Aug. 28. He already has ideas for the fall, he said.
Bragg said he’d love to see the former bedrooms turned into Airbnb spaces, which would raise money for the endowment.
When Elks who were veterans came home from war, they could live in the building as they found housing, Bragg said. There are several former bedrooms on the upper floors.
“Each room had a nice walk-in closet and a sink,” he said. “The rooms are big enough that we could add an ensuite. The endowment is not unfeasible really, the way people love Airbnbs now, and especially places with a story.”
Ray and Bragg don’t have a timeline for the restoration to be finished, but they want to see parts of the building used for events in the meantime.
“I dare not dream [about the timeline] at this point,” Bragg said. “I’m pushy when I dream, and I don’t think I have the critical mass to push yet. But it’s going to be glorious.”
Those interested in joining the Elks or attending upcoming events should reach out to Ray at 434-489-3008.
Jim Ray, left, and Robert Bragg, right, are working to revitalize the Danville Elk’s Lodge. Here, they stand in the building’s newly renovated dining room. Photo by Grace Mamon. 
All of the rooms in the building used to have natural light, Robert Bragg said. Now, illuminated stained glass windows light the formal meeting room instead. Photo by Grace Mamon. 
Some of the rooms in the building have jewels, pins and medals on display. Photo by Grace Mamon. 
A taxidermied elk overlooks the atrium. Photo by Grace Mamon. 
The ballroom on the first floor of the building could hold conventions, or even wedding receptions, Bragg and Ray said. Photo by Grace Mamon. 
The formal meeting room in the Elk’s Lodge has designated seating for the lodge’s exalted ruler, secretary and other elected positions. Photo by Grace Mamon. 
Old doors and windows that have been removed from parts of the building sit in an upstairs room. Photo by Grace Mamon. 
The Danville Elk’s Lodge was established in 1892. It has been in its current location since 1912. Photo by Grace Mamon. 
Jim Ray, right, is behind much of the Elk’s Lodge revitalization efforts. He said he wants to see the building and lodge become part of the community again. With him is Tina Leone, left, who leads the River District Association. Photo by Grace Mamon. 
Much of the rooms and hallways on the upstairs floors have been used for miscellaneous storage for years. Photo by Grace Mamon. 
Ray, left, and Bragg, right, stand in the atrium of the Elk’s Lodge, where a 60-year-old plant stands on an 1885 aquarium fountain from Bragg’s grandparent’s house. Photo by Grace Mamon.
