NW Legion Celebrates Anniversary, Growth
Herbert Kuhn American Legion Post 253 of North Webster is celebrating its 25th year at the post’s present location on SR 13 this month. The current building, that once housed the M & M Restaurant, began operations in late June 1987.
Post 253 proudly bills itself as “The Biggest Little Post in Indiana.” When Post 253 moved to its present location, legion membership stood at 615 members. Since the move, membership has grown to 1,128 members, which ranks Post 253 as the third largest legion post in Indiana, behind only the posts in the larger cities of Bloomington and Lafayette.
Post 253 also has the largest detachment of Sons of the American Legion in Indiana with 935 members and its ladies auxiliary unit is one of the 10 largest units in the state with 906 members.
With a total post membership of just under 3,000, Post 253 is the largest post in Indiana in total legion, Sons of the Legion, and auxiliary membership. The total membership of almost 3,000 is almost triple the population of the town of North Webster.
The first official legion function was the June 17 Legion meeting of that year. Legion Commander John Noble convened the meeting in the old post on East Washington Street in North Webster and closed the meeting in the new post.
The building was officially dedicated as the new home of Herbert Kuhn Post 253 in ceremonies at the Post Birthday Party on Oct. 17, 1987.
In 2010, a chapter of the American Legion Riders was formed at the post. The Legion Riders are legion, auxiliary, and SAL members who enjoy riding motorcycles to raise money for various veterans’ and charitable projects.
A main reason for Post 253’s large membership is because the post offers a large number of activities for its members and enthusiastically supports the four pillars of The American Legion: a strong national security, taking care of veterans, mentoring youth, and promoting patriotism and honor. The post is also strongly involved in the local North Webster community.
The post also maintains a full-menu restaurant that features daily specials. The restaurant is open to the public for lunch and dinner but, due to Indiana excise laws, the bar can only be open to the public three days out of each month. In June, the membership voted to have the post became a non-smoking establishment in order to stay accessible to its junior members and to the community.
During October, Post 253 is giving 10 percent of the revenues from its lunch and dinner sales to the Post Rehabilitation Fund, which funds the Legion’s three vans.
The primary use of the vans is to transport veterans, who cannot drive or have no means of transportation, to Veterans Administration medical facilities in Fort Wayne, Goshen, Marion or Indianapolis or to their local medical appointments. The vans currently average 30 trips per month taking veterans to their medical appointments.
This month, Legion Commander Ken Wilson invites anyone, whether a veteran or not, to come into the post at 756 S. Main St. (SR 13) for lunch or dinner, or simply stop by to say “hello” and visit. Lunches are served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and dinners are served from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday.