Batavia Shrine Club
History of the Batavia Shrine Club
In the early 1950's four men met regularly for coffee at Ralph Schacht's "Colonial Ice Cream Shop" on the corner of Batavia Ave and Wilson St. in Batavia. Lee Olmstead, Norman Johnson, William (Scoop) Clark, and Ralph were all local business owners, friends, and fellow Shriners.
During this time they discovered the Batavia Fire Department had blown the engine on one of their fire trucks. although the truck didn't run, it was kept parked inside the fire station for appearances. This gave the impression that the city had two working fire trucks and that qualified them for a more favorable insurance rate. After some time the Fire Department purchased another truck and now once again the city had two trucks that ran. They weren't sure what to do with the broken one, but had decided not to spend the money necessary to put it back into running conditions.
Our four friends had talked about having something like the fire truck to take to Shrine events and parades, so they approached the Fire Department about buying the truck "as is" with the blown engine. Discussions about a purchase price followed and Fire Chief Bud Richter felt the City should get at least $200 to recover what they had spent on four new tires. The City agreed to a sale price of $200 with the provision that the Shriners would let the Fire Department use the truck in an emergency situation. These four Shriners agreed to the emergency provision, pitched in $50 each to buy the truck, and on May 9, 1952 became the proud owners of a 1927 Pirsch file truck that wouldn't run. To our knowledge, the city has never requested to use the fire truck, but the agreement is still in existence today.
The truck was towed to the basement of Scoop's "Avenue Motors" on Batavia Ave for repairs. Shriners Gil Hanson and Henry McCord nickel welded the crack in the block. Lee contact the company in Wisconsin that produced the engine and arranged for a new bearing, piston, connecting rod, oil pan, and rebabbitting the crank shaft. The truck was fixed but after throwing pistons two more times, it was again retired to the basement at Avenue motors. A used 1948 Chevrolet truck motor was found and installed and is still the engine in the truck today.
Also about this time, the Shriners in the Batavia area talked of forming a local club to be associated with the Tebala Shrine Temple in Rockford. But Batavia was in the Medina Temple jurisdiction and Tebala could not authorize or sponsor a Batavia area club. An alternative thought was to form a local Shrine group as an independent organization. This would allow them to function as a group of Shriners that did not require being authorized by or subject to any specific Shrine Temple/ This alternative was taken and the local Shriners petitioned the State of Illinois for a Certificate of Incorporation. The purpose of the corporation was: "For social, civic, and patriotic purposes and in connection therewith to own and operate a 1927 Peter Pirsch fire engine, a replacement for same and/or other devices suitable for parades, display, or public amusement. Same to be presented, handled, and operated in such a manner as to bring favorable publicity to the Shrine organization".
The petition was approved and on May 6, 1953 and Certificate of Incorporation #599 was issued officially creating the "Batavia Shriners" as a corporation. Since that official beginning, we have operated as the Batavia Shriners Incorporated and have been associated with the Tebala Shrine Temple in Rockford.