By Nancy English
Harold T. Andrews Post 17 of the American Legion has done itself proud over one hundred years. Members have cared for its handsome brick John Calvin Stevens 1898 building with needed expensive upkeep. The roof, the windows, and the heating system have all been replaced.
All American Legion posts are named for a veteran who died in wars. Harold T. Andrews was the first Mainer and Portlander to die in World War 1. He was killed in 1917 while fighting Germans with a shovel after his ammunition ran out.
Post 17 purchased their building in 1926. It was a stately location near Cumberland Avenue with governors for neighbors, and actor John Wayne sat on the Advisory Council. For 100 years the member-supported post has paid its bills and sustained itself as a veterans’ refuge and gathering place.
But, post treasurer Joe Rich, 76, former Peaks Island police officer, said, “All things come to an end, including life.” He believes it is time to think about what happens when Harold T. Andrews Post 17 members can no longer pay for the building’s upkeep.
Donating the Post to Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital
The Andrews Post once had 2,800 members. It now has around 300. Fewer than twenty current members attended a meeting on March 26th to vote on a proposal to donate the Andrews Post building to the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center. Vice-Commander John Nappi gaveled the meeting open in the absence of Commander Paul Avery, who was unavailable due to health reasons.
The meeting was short. Following auxiliary member Emmalee Tracy’s legal advice, members voted on two questions. The first vote approved donating the property to a charity by 15 to 2. The second approved donating the property specifically to the Barbara Bush Hospital, 12 to 3. A letter from Maine Medical Center promised a plaque honoring the Harold T. Andrews Post 17 of the American Legion, if and when the donation took place.
One post member who voted in opposition is District 2 Commander (there are 17 districts) of the American Legion Department of Maine (ALDM), Eugene Connolly. “You cannot give away your building,” he said. The Post must do more work to donate its property which involved, he said, “going before the board” of the ALDM.
The administrators of the Andrews Post are following legal advice to ensure the disposition of the property follows their intent at some time in the distant future, transforming their 100-year-old investment from a meeting place to a lasting benefit for sick children. “We want to leave our own legacy,” Rich said.
Dwindling Membership
In 2019, the Taps Column of the American Legionnaire, a publication issued three times a year by the ALDM, persons with service in the Korean and Vietnam wars dominated its pages. By 2026 the most frequent war listed was Vietnam. “The State of Maine numbers are dropping like a rock,” Rich said.
“They are aging out,” Theresa McDonough, of American Legion Auxiliary, originally made up of wives and daughters of veterans and now including granddaughters, said at the March 26th meeting. She sat in the back of the room because auxiliary members do not have a vote.
Rich has watched other local posts lose their buildings after violating their charter under the state umbrella organization of the ALDM. Proceeds from building sales are added to a trust held by the ALDM, which is located in Winslow. Interest pays for members’ trips to the Indiannapolis, Indiana headquarters, among other things.
The American Legion Paul Mallia Post 161, at 42 Atlantic Street on Munjoy Hill, sold for $1,075,000 in 2024. That money was added to the trust at ALDM. None of the contents of Post 161 were made available to the Harold T. Andrews Post 17, which bothered Rich. They could have used a replacement ice maker. But when ALDM allowed them into the building, it had already been emptied.
Legacy of Portland Veterans
Historic artifacts abound in the beautiful rooms of the Andrews Post, where scenes from “The Preacher’s Wife” with Denzel Washington and Whiney Houston were filmed. A lighted display shows off dozens of prizes won by teams the Andrews Post has sponsored over the years. There were awards from ball teams to oratorical contests, along with a banner announcing its own marching band winning first in a 1962 competition in Nice, France.
In the recent past, hundreds of veterans marched in the Veterans’ Day parades sponsored by the Andrews Post. The strength of the American Legion nationwide was crucial to the creation of the Veterans Administration, according to Darnell Williams, the Post Service Officer. Williams, a veteran of Persian Gulf military actions, helps veterans receive available benefits.
McDonough makes the Veterans’ Day wreath placed at City Hall and ties yellow bows for the hundred or so linden trees lining Baxter Boulevard, a living memorial to Mainers who served in World War 1. The legacies of Portland veterans abound in the City of Portland when you look for them.
