LEGACY LODGE
Years Active: 1934 – 2019
Communities Served While Active:
South Chicago Suburbs in both Illinois and Indiana: Beecher, Black Oak, Burnham, Calumet City, Calumet Township, Ceder Lake, Chicago Heights, Country Club Hills, Crestwood, Crete, Crown Point, Dixmoor, Dolton, Dyer, East Chicago, E Hazel Crest, Flossmoor, Ford Heights, Gary, Glenwood, Griffith, Hammond, Harvey, Haven, Hazel Crest, Hegewisch, Highland, Hobart, Homewood, Lake Station, Lansing, Lowell, Lynwood, Markham, Matteson, Merrillville, Midlothian, Monee, Munster, New Chicago, Oak Forest, Olympia Fields, Orland Hills, Orland Park, Park Forest, Phoenix, Portage, Posen, Richton Park, Riverdale, Sauk Village, Scheinder, Schereville, Shelby, South Chicago Heights, South Holland, St. John, Steger, Thornton, Tinley Park, University Park, and Whiting.
Council Camp While Active:
Camp Frank S. Betz – Berrien Springs, MI
Lodge History
While on a camping trip at the Indiana Dunes, Archie E. Wilson, Scout Executive of the Whiting-Robertsdale Council, and a group of boys were invited to attend an Ordeal Ceremony being put on by scouts of Chicago Council. The group later was invited to Chicago where Mr. Wilson was inducted as an Ordeal Member. Returning to Whiting, Nissaki Lodge #110 was formed and received its Charter in 1934.
In 1940, the Councils of Whiting-Robertsdale and Hammond in Indiana merged to become Pokagon Council. Hammond did not have an Order of the Arrow Lodge. The members of the Nissaki Lodge of Whiting helped set up a Lodge for the new merged Council. The Lodge name became Pokagon Lodge #110.
Potawattomi Lodge #122 (Harvey Illinois and surrounding areas) was formed in 1938 by Harold G. Boltz, Scout Executive of the Potawattomi Trails Council. During 1942, Potawattomi Trails Council merged with Pokagon Council forming the Pokagon Trails Council. The two Lodges merged the same year and Potawattomi sacrificed its name and number to be part of Pokagon Lodge #110.
In 1940, Oposa Achomawi Lodge #189 was formed out of the Gary Indiana Council. By happy coincidence, it was members of the old Nissaki Lodge who helped start and advise this new Lodge.
For the next twenty-five years, both Lodge #110 and Lodge #189 were very busy. The ceremonial teams of both Lodges conducted ceremonies in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, and Iowa for Lodges that had no teams of their own. In 1950, the Pokagon Lodge ceremonial team conducted Vigil Honor ceremonies at the OA National Conference in Bloomington. Their Lodge’s “Rules of Conduct” were adopted by the National Committee with few revisions, and put into the OA Handbook in 1952. Pokagon’s ceremonial costumes were illustrated in the OA Handbook for 10 years.
Pokagon Lodge conducted the Ordeal for the first member of scouting outside of the United States to be brought into the Order of the Arrow. In 1951, the State Department of the Federal Government requested the Boy Scouts of America to induct the Chief Scout of the Island of Ceylon into the Order of the Arrow. Since the Chief Scout was to be in the Chicago area, National Headquarters of the Boy Scouts requested Mr. Archie Wilson of Pokagon Lodge, and a member of the National Committee of the Order of the Arrow to arrange the ceremony.
During the year of 1965, both Pokagon Lodge and Oposa Achomawi Lodge celebrated their twenty-fifth (and last) anniversary. In the months of January and February, 1966, the home councils of these two OA Lodges consolidated into one council. The Calumet Council was born with the merger of Sauk Trails and Pokagon Trails Councils. Pokagon Lodge #110 and Oposa Achomawi Lodge #189 merged to form Michigamea Lodge #110. Later on in 1969, Calumet Council absorbed Twin City Council out of East Chicago and Michigamea Lodge #110 gained more area and membership.
In January 2019, Michigamea Lodge and three other Lodges within Pathway to Adventure Council merged to form Takhone Lodge #7, which became officially active on January 1st, 2019.