The IBEW Local 48 is proud to announce its partnership with other community and construction industry leaders in a collaborative effort to remodel the Billy Webb Elks Club in Northeast Portland.

Coordinated by the National Association of Minority Contractors (NAMCO), IBEW Local 48 is working in partnership with Hoffman Construction, CJ Jackson Construction, Portland Development Commission,  Walsh Construction, Legacy Health System, Stacy Witbeck General Engineering, NW Natural Gas and other local partners.

Noted by Architecture Week in 2005 as an “endangered site of Black history” the Elks Club was constructed in 1921 as a sort of portable classroom.  In 1926 Ms. E. S. Collins donated monies to make the structure permanent, creating the first all black YWCA in the state. As time went on this building became a meeting place for the local NAACP and other African American community organizations.

An USO club for black servicemen during the war, it’s now an Elks Club named for Billy Webb, whose orchestra of black Elks Club members played on steamships between Portland and California during the 1920s. While events are still held in the building, the entire building is in need of immediate attention, which is when NAMCO stepped in.

“When we were approached about this project it was one of the easiest “yesses” we could have given,” said Clif Davis, business manager of IBEW Local 48. “Our electricians are dedicated to the communities in which they live, and the opportunity to help with a project that helps protect Portland’s cultural past is one they wouldn’t pass up.”

Construction efforts will begin immediately with a late August grand “re-opening”, being called “The Gathering”, to be coordinated by the Elks Lodge. 

For more information about IBEW 48’s involvement in the project, contact Elizabeth Mazzara at 503-685-9400. For information about the Billy Webb Elk Club or the August event, contact Jennifer Dishman or call 503-284-4853.

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