Council 1315 History

Our council was chartered on April 26th, 1908 with forty-two charter members from St. Joseph's Church.   The first Grand Knight was Martin J. De Vries who was the brother of Rev. Joseph Devries, the pioneer KY priest who established St. Joseph's Parish, built the present church in 1860 and was the first pastor until his death in 1889.

Meetings were held above the George T Massey Grocery Store on Main Street until the 1930's when meetings were moved to the 2nd floor above the Martin De Vries Grocery Store.  In the early 1940's the Council purchased the old Ray Price Building on 10th Street, which was partially destroyed by fire in 1953 causing the loss of the council minutes from inception to 1916.  The council then purchased an old chicken hatchery - a two-story building at 932 Center Street.  In 1974, the loan on that building was paid and a mortgage burning party was held.

In 1977, the building on Center Street was found to be structurally unsound, and the membership voted to sell the building for $18,000. Membership meetings and social activities were then held at St. Joseph and Holy Spirit church facilities. The membership voted to have bingo as a fund raising activity, and it became a way of life on July 12th, 1982 at St. Joseph gymnasium under the leadership of Dale Jakel. Income from bingo built a sizeable bank account and the membership eagerly looked for a new Council home. At the November 11, 1986 meeting, the membership voted to purchase Lot 32 on Searcy Way. On January 13, 1987, the membership approved the construction of the facility. A building committee was appointed, with Jerry Kaelin as Chairman, Dale Jakel, Mark Kreyembuhl, Burt Pinkstaff and Jim Signorello. On March 10, 1987, the membership approved a loan of $100,000 and groundbreaking ceremonies followed on Sunday, April 26, 1987. The building committee obtained approval to open the building for occupancy, and under the leadership of Jerry Frey, the first bingo was held Labor Day, September 7, 1987 with 371 bingo players in attendance.

In September 13, 1988, the membership voted to purchase an adjoining lot for $20,000. Less than 5 years from the groundbreaking ceremonies, Council #1315 celebrated with a mortgage burning ceremony on our current location.