RALPH GRACIE POST 14
DEPARTMENT OF MINNESOTA
ORGANIZATIONAL HISTORY
The American Legion was chartered by Congress in 1919 as a patriotic veteran’s organization. It now has over 2.4 million members in 14,000 Posts worldwide. The Posts are organized into 55 departments; one for each of the 50 states, along with the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, France, Mexico and the Philippines.
The original Charter for Ralph Gracie Post No. 14, Department of Minnesota was issued under the signatures of the National Commander at Headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana on August 1, 1920 and countersigned by the Commander and Adjutant of the Department of Minnesota at St. Paul on August 10, 1920. It states: “By the acceptance of this Charter, the said Post acknowledges irrevocable jurisdiction and declares itself to be in all things subject to the Constitutions of the American Legion and the Department of Minnesota, and the rules, regulations, orders and laws promulgated in pursuance thereof; and further the said Post pledges itself through its members, to uphold, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and the principles of true Americanism for the common welfare of the living and in solemn commemoration of those who died that liberty might not perish from the Earth.”
Post 14 was incorporated in Minnesota by Certificate of Incorporation under the name Ralph Gracie Post No. 14 of Department of Minnesota, the American Legion, under the signatures of George Phillipson, Commander and A.S. Halvorson, Adjutant, under date of April 16, 1928. Pursuant to the authority of Minnesota General Statute 7938 of 1923 pertaining to lodges and fraternal orders, incorporation was by filing the Certificate of Incorporation with the Registrar of Deeds which was done on May 1, 1928, in Book 15 of Miscellaneous, page 465.
The real estate of the Post at 217 Minnesota Avenue NW, Bemidji, MN, was acquired by deed from one Dorothy Nangle dated February 16, 1946 and filed of record February 23, 1946 with A.S. Halvorson, Registrar of Deeds. Title was taken in the name of Ralph Gracie Post No. 14, Department of Minnesota, of The American Legion. The real estate was sold January 26, 2015 to Brother’s Group, LLC by warranty deed dated January 21, 2015, recorded with the Beltrami County Recorder January 27, 2015.
SUBMITTED BY: Jim Haskell, Historian, Post 14