Members of the Joplin Elks Lodge that was destroyed in the 2011 tornado are holding a grand reopening.
The Joplin Globe reports that the lodge is holding its grand reopening Saturday, nearly 20 months after the May 2011 tornado destroyed the lodge, scores of other Joplin buildings and killed 161 people, including four people who were at the lodge.
The Elks have been meeting in a large garage on the lodge property. But with the help of insurance and donations, members broke ground on the new $2.7 million lodge a year ago.
Inside the front door of the completed building is a wooden plaque with the names of the four victims. The plaque was a gift from an Elks Lodge in Tempe, Ariz.
