Waldo Country Shrine Club House-- Belfast, Maine D1003

Waldo Country Shrine Club House-- Belfast, Maine D1003

"Waldo Country Shrine Club House-- Belfast, Maine D1003" Belfast, Maine, Waldo Country, Shrine, Club, House Located across from the City Park on Northport Avenue is the Shrine Club, built on the grounds of Mayor Edgar Hanson's lavish home, Colonia Villa, a George F. Barber mail order creation, which was built in 1892 and burned in 1923. The Shrine Club is a satellite club of Anah Temple, Bangor, Maine. The building was home to the Bluebird Terrace Restaurant (Harding & Whitcomb, proprietors) when it opened in 1931 until it was taken over by the Waldo County Shrine Club in 1945. HISTORY Claude F. Clement, a Belfast banker who ran the local Depositors Trust Company, served as Potentate of Anah Shriners in 1941. Mr. Clement was renowned in the Belfast area for philanthropy and his dedication to the Shrine fraternity is well known. Shortly after his service as Potentate, he and eleven other Shriners from Waldo County joined forces to form a nonprofit corporation under the laws of the State of Maine. These original incorporators included several past and future Potentates of Anah Temple, including Lynwood B. Thompson (1934), Claude F. Clement (1941) and George W. Scott (1951). The articles of incorporation were signed in Belfast on March 26, 1945, and filed in Augusta on April 30, 1945, to form the nonprofit corporation known as "Waldo County Shrine Club." Local Belfast businessman Henry Smith was listed as the first President; James E. Braley, Vice-President; and Ralph B. Thompson, Secretary and Treasurer. The articles of incorporation declared the purposes of the Waldo County Shrine Club, as follows: ". . . to carry on a home where all Shriners, who are members, may enjoy good, clean frivolity, fun . . . and to promote charity and the welfare of all in Waldo County and vicinity particularly of children. Also to use its home for all proper Mystic Shrine purposes, including initiation work and ceremonials. . . . . " On May 1, 1945, the day after the articles of incorporation were filed, the new corporation took title to a building with land on Northport Avenue in the City of Belfast. That building has served as "the home" of the Waldo County Shrine Club and local Shriners ever since. In 1951, the City of Belfast and the Waldo County Shrine Club hosted the Anah Shriners summer ceremonial under the leadership Potentate George W. Scott, a local Shriner who ran a trucking business. This ceremonial was a grand time for the Waldo County Shrine Club and Anah's Shriners. Charles H. Lang, a Belfast businessman, and Waldo County Shrine Club leader, was elected Potentate of Anah Shriners in 1960. The City of Belfast once again hosted the Anah Shriners summer ceremonial. Affectionately known as "Charlie", Illustrious Sir Lang lived to be the one of the oldest living Potentates in America, before passing away on December 24, 2010, at the age of 95. William Dawson 2011