The Z.B. Falcons: Nest 80

Founded October 3, 1897 — the hall closed in May 2024

The founding, from the centennial account: The Tribune's centennial history of the nest (Ken Bradford, August 18, 1997) fixes the founding: the Z.B. Falcons, Nest 80, were founded on October 3, 1897, by John P. Rozplochowski, Louis Liwosz, and Louis Mucha, the initials standing for Zygmunt Bairiki, as the account spells the Polish nationalist's name. The nest's first home was above a bank at 411 South Chapin Street; three halls followed across its life. By 1910 it counted 300 adults and 100 children in its gymnastics — the Falcons' discipline was the point of the nest — and its women's house stood as the Falconettes of Ladies Nest 185. The centennial account gives the nest's strength in its hundredth year: 1,100 members in 1997, the figure printed here as the account's own.

A conflict on the year, and the end of the hall: The nest's own website says, in its present telling, "We opened our doors in 1896" — one year against the documented centennial history's October 3, 1897, and the two are printed side by side, the documented account governing the founding date used here. The nest's last hall stood at 323 South Sheridan Street. Its final Dyngus Day came in April 2024; the building closed at the end of May 2024, and the building's next life is the public library's — the Tribune (January 3, 2025) and the library's own Dyngus history record that the hall becomes the St. Joseph County Public Library's new Western Branch. Whether the nest continues as an organization without its hall was not established in the record reached; the hall's course is closed, the nest's is printed open.

Sources:

1. South Bend Tribune, Ken Bradford, August 18, 1997 — the centennial account: the October 3, 1897, founding and its three founders; Z.B. for Zygmunt Bairiki; 411 S. Chapin St.; 300 adults and 100 children in gymnastics by 1910; 1,100 members in 1997; Ladies Nest 185.
2. Z.B. Falcons, Nest 80, the nest's own site — "We opened our doors in 1896"; the hall's daily hours as last published.
3. South Bend Tribune, January 3, 2025, and St. Joseph County Public Library, Dyngus Day history page — the final Dyngus Day, April 2024; the building closed at the end of May 2024; the building to become the library's Western Branch.