The Billy Webb Elks Lodge is now on the National Register of Historic Places.
Intisar Abioto
The Billy Webb Elks Lodge on North Williams Avenue in Portland is now on the National Register of Historic Places, in recognition of its historical significance for the city’s Black community. The Lodge was originally built in the early 1900s as a YWCA, then known as the “colored YWCA,” and was also the headquarters of the Portland chapter of the NAACP. Kim Moreland is on the board of the Architectural Heritage Center and helped put the application together. She tells us about the Lodge, other historical sites that have already been demolished, and what this national recognition means to her.
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