Eighth Headquarters
by Mike Raymond • December 2005 • 2 Comments •
In the fall of 1955, our fraternity moved into its eighth administrative center at 3434 Washington Boulevard in Indianapolis, Indiana. The former home of Eugene Burford Rhodes is still an attractive structure that sits on a beautifully landscapped lot in the northern suburbs of the city.
Office Locations
- 1909: First
- Swansea, MA
- 1920: Second
- 261 Pierce St
Kingston, PA 18704 - 1920: Third
- 160 S Main St
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701 - 1920: Fourth
- 30-40 N Pennsylvania St
Indianapolis, IN 46205 - 1923: Fifth
- 136 E Market St
Indianapolis, IN 46204 - 1930: Sixth
- 55 Monument Cir
Indianapolis, IN 46204 - 1940: Seventh
- 2029 N Meridian St
Indianapolis, IN 46202 - 1954: Eighth
- 3434 N Washington Blvd
Indianapolis, IN 46205 - 1974: Ninth
- 8741 Founders Rd
Indianapolis, IN 46268
The old central offices at 2029 North Meridian Street were simply too small to meet the needs of our rapidly expanding organization.
In the May 1956 issue of the Cross & Crescent (download 1.6MB PDF excerpt), the editor remarked that Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity was the first to buy a headquarters building in Indianapolis. Since then, 29 fraternities and sororities have located their central offices in Indianapolis and its suburbs.
At the time of converting the Rhodes Mansion into our administrative office, Cyril F. “Duke” Flad (Wittenberg 1940) was executive director and Linn C. Lightner (Franklin & Marshall 1918) was editor of the Cross & Crescent.
Both men made significant contributions to the development of Lambda Chi Alpha as a major fraternal organization. Flad was a well respected leader in the Fraternity Executives Association and Lightner eventually set a still standing record of 50 years at the editorial helm of a fraternal magazine, according to the College Fraternity Editors Association.
An Attic in Massachusetts
A brief listing of our headquarters sites begins with the administrative activities of our founder Warren A. Cole (Boston 1909). Cole conducted much of the business of the fraternity from his home in Swansea, Massachusetts.
Ernst J. C. Fischer (Cornell 1910) also used his home, specifically his attic, at 261 Pierce Street in Kingston, Pennsylvania as our second headquarters site.
The third Lambda Chi headquarters, and first to be housed in an actual office building, was located at 160 South Main Street in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
The Office of Administration was moved to Indianapolis in 1920 where it was housed in two rented rooms in the When? building on 30-40 North Pennsylvania Street. Additional office moves were made to room 419 of the People’s Bank Building on 132-136 East Market Street in 1923 and to suite 701 in the Circle Tower Office Building on 55 Monument Circle in 1930.
TKN Merger
The merger of Theta Kappa Nu with our Fraternity led to the formation of a special commission, composed of Clare B. Book (Pittsburgh), J. A. Harris (Purdue), and Donald F. Lybarger (Gettysburg) to determine the best location for a new administrative office site.
The group reported that Indianapolis was the best area because it “…is near the geographical center of the Fraternity and excellent services are available for transportation, communication, machine service, and office supplies, etc. Also, Indiana corporation law deals kindly with non-profit corporations, particularly in the area of taxes.” These reasons still hold true today.
The seventh site selected by the special commission chaired by Book was located at 2029 North Meridian Street. The North Meridian property was purchased in 1940 to meet the needs of our growing organization. These administrative offices were well appointed and functional.
Over the course of the next 15 years the office space began to “bulge at the seams” as the staff expanded in size. In addition to more staff members, the demand for more room to produce the many publications of our fraternity further reduced the efficency of the building’s space.
Consideration was given to expanding the Meridian Street building but the plan to do so was dropped because of the estimated cost of the renovations.
Rhodes Mansion
The Rhodes Mansion at 3434 Washington Boulevard became available for purchase in 1954. Lightner wrote in the Cross & Crescent that the availability of the Rhodes property was “… almost like the answer to a prayer….”
The house featured Honduran mahogany woodwork, antique shutters, copper roofing and other ornamental details, oak floors, and French hand-blocked wallpaper.
A major feature of the building was the “John E. Mason Memorial Library.” This library contained one of the largest and most important collections of fraternal artifacts, books, and documents in the country.
Rhodes even donated many valuable antique pieces of furniture to our fraternity. According to Lightner, “…the most prized of these is an original Chippendale library table, which was imported from England by the Armour family of Chicago….”
This generous gift, along with two hand carved arm chairs and a love seat, can be seen today in our International Headquarters Building at 8741 Founders Road.
The Rhodes Mansion, well remembered for its fine architectural features and beautiful landscaping, served Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity as its eighth administrative center very well from 1955 to the opening of our present headquarters building in 1974.
Lambda Chi Alpha International Fraternity has maintained its administrative headquarters in Indianapolis for 85 years.
Jason Pearce Says:
December 5th, 2005 at 3:32 pmChuck Peyser, a friend and knowledgable historian, emailed me some more information that I’d like to share about our headquarters:
1920: Kingston, PA
February 1920 was the date of McIntosh going to Kingston and using the dormer sewing room of the Fischer home. Cole’s home was still nominally the headquarters through much of the General Assembly and thus all of 1919. The earliest one can argue for Kingston in January 1920 when Fischer became Grand High Alpha. There’s also the complexity that Cole was named Administrative Secretary at Ann Arbor and was supposed to work out of Swansea, but Fischer never gave him anything to do, and fired him in late January.
1920: Wilkes-Barre, PA
It isn’t clear when the move from the Fischer home to Wilkes-Barre occurred. In the article on the Circle Tower move Bruce writes “as soon as possible, the office was moved to a show room on the second floor of a two story commercial building across the river.” The March 1920 Purple Green & Gold Directory lists Bruce as Administrative Secretary for the “Office of Administration, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.” The November 1920 Purple Green & Gold Directory shows the Office of Administration as 160 Main St. (P.O. Box 372) Wilkes-Barre Pa. — the first mention of the street address.
1920: 30-40 N Pennsylvania St
At the time, this building was sufficiently known as the 70 When Building. We moved to this office in December 1920, for the November 1920 Purple Green & Gold Directory says to send mail to Indianapolis after December 15.
1923: 136 E Market St
This building was known as the 419 People’s Bank Building. There is a cut of the office in the Purple Green & Gold “History Number,” Nov-Dec 1929 p.60.
1930: 55 Monument Cir
This was known as 701 Circle Tower. We were the first lesee to move into this “first set-back, modernistic skyscraper in Indy / ruby floodlights at night.” It was a three-room suite with windows on three sides. The Circle Tower really wanted us, for there was still three months left on the People’s Bank Building lease (it had a cancellation provision, which LCA exercised). The regular price on the 701 suite was $185/month, but a special arrangement was made so that LCA paid only the $85/month we had been paying at People’s Bank the first three months.
An article in March-April 1930 Purple Green & Gold, pp. 78-80, features a cut of Bruce’s office. Another sidelight, Circle tower was particularly appropriate, as Bruce’s office overlooked the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument. Bruce’s father emigrated from Blairgowrie, Scotland to be one of the master stonemasons who constructed the monument.
Thanks Mike and Chuck
Thanks to the both of you for all of the great research you offer headquarters and our members.
Administrator Says:
December 9th, 2005 at 3:24 pmWe found a photo of the second headquarters on 261 Pierce St in Kingston, PA 18704 and some surrounding text describing it.