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American Legion building sold

Lead Summary
,
By
Lori Sorenson

The Luverne American Legion Post 123 building on West Main Street has been sold, and Post members have been moving out.
With 4,000 square feet on the main floor and more than 3,000 square feet in the basement level, Commander Ed Stearns said the organization has no need for all that space.
“It’s way more building than we need,” he said last year when the building was listed for sale.
The group needs space to conduct meetings and its monthly pancake fundraiser, but it no longer has liquor and gambling licenses in the past couple of years.
“In our heyday, it was a pretty popular place back in the 1970s and ’80s,” Stearns said.
The group bought the Main Street building in 1950, and through the years social habits changed, as did the Legion’s priorities.
Today, he said the non-profit organization is more focused on its original mission — serving veterans and service members — which is why the Luverne Dell Hogan Post was chartered in 1919.
Stearns said the group itself — which has 70 members on its roster — isn’t going anywhere. It simply needs a more practical place to call home.
The new owner, Heidi Jing, has told the group her business won’t start renovating until spring, but Legion members have started the moving process.
Stearns said they’re hoping for space in the new National Guard Armory when it’s built west of Papik Motors in 2021, but that remains uncertain.
He said they can have meetings anywhere, but they need a secure space to store their rifles and flags.
The building was listed for sale at $95,000 with Real Estate Retrievers in Luverne.
In addition to the lower and main level spaces, the building also includes four upstairs former apartments that haven’t been leased in a number of years.
Stearns shared pages from a history book about the American Legion that show Post 123 was named Dell Hogan in memory of two Luverne soldiers who were killed in action during World War I. Their names were Harold J. Hogan and Elmer J. Dell.
Attempts to reach the new owner of the Legion building have so far been unsucessful.

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