A history of change: The KP building

People talk a lot about the way Main Street has changed and how it will never again be the same. But the history of Main Street is a history of change, a history of evolution. Throughout the decades, the fortunes of towns have ebbed and flowed. 

Main Street has never been static.
-Pat Ross, Remembering Main Street

Greensburg Knights of Pythias Lodge #148 was organized on 24 August 1886. In 1891, the Knights purchased the Falconbury lot just south of the old YMCA. They spent almost $50,000 building and furnishing an opera house. 

"...This lodge had the pleasure of being the means of providing a beautiful opera house for the city of Greensburg. This opera house is the pride of every Knight and is highly appreciated by all citizens of the city and county."
-Lewis Harding, 1915

1899

1910

 

1911

1929

1930

1934

1949

The Italianate KP Building, located at 215 N. Broadway in downtown Greensburg, was the second building in Decatur County to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. At the time it received that distinction, it housed a restaurant, the Red Cross office, an insurance agency, the Decatur County Historical Society Museum, several meeting rooms, and the abandoned theatre. It was rated "Outstanding" by Indiana Landmarks.

The KP Building today

Newspaper ads from microfilm were accessed at the Greensburg Public Library. Research and photographs by Lori Osting.