The Elks test: no Mishawaka lodge

Tested 1907–2026 · negative at the strength of the record reached

The search, shown: Of the three great fraternal orders of the lodge-row era, the Elks are the one Mishawaka did not have. The test runs three ways and comes back the same each time. Howard's 1907 history, in its county account of the order, represents the Elks in St. Joseph County by a single lodge — South Bend Lodge No. 235, which "have built a fine Elks' Temple on West Colfax avenue" — and his Mishawaka roster, which misses little, carries no Elks body. The 1921 directory's Mishawaka societies list, read whole, carries no Elks lodge or hall. And the state's current fraternal-club permit lists carry B.P.O.E. No. 235 at its South Bend address and no Mishawaka Elks permit in any year checked. One false scent is worth recording so it is not followed again: a lodge history published on the order's national site for a Lodge No. 833 — dispensation in 1903, a home at Franklin and Cherry — is Troy, Ohio's, not this city's. The negative is printed at the strength of the record reached: no Mishawaka lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks stands in the county history, the directory, or the state's permit record. The settling source, if a charter ever issued and lapsed unseen, is the Grand Lodge's institution list.

Sources:

1. Timothy E. Howard, A History of St. Joseph County, Indiana, Vol. I (1907) — the county's Elks account (South Bend Lodge No. 235 alone) and the Mishawaka roster, pp. 344–345.
2. R. L. Polk & Co., South Bend City Directory, 1921, Mishawaka societies — read whole, no Elks entry.
3. Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission, fraternal-club permit schedules, 2025–2026 — B.P.O.E. No. 235 at 3535 E. McKinley Ave., South Bend; no Mishawaka Elks permit listed.