From the 1923 Polk directory, an ad for the Reserve Loan Life Insurance Company, located at 429 North Pennsylvania Street.
The building seen was the Knights and Ladies of Honor fraternal lodge at 429 N Penn. The Knights and Ladies of Honor was a splinter group from the Knights of Honor and had formed in 1877 as a reaction to the KoH no longer having a women’s auxiliary. The KLoH was one of the first fraternal organizations to allow women to join at an equal level to men, with the same benefits and rights. They allowed any white person aged 18-50 with a reputable occupation to join.
Like many fraternal organizations, their largest member benefit was life insurance. However, as its membership aged, the insurance claims increased beyond the ability for the organization to pay them. So, the Knights and Ladies of Honor disbanded in 1916, with their life insurance assets going to a life insurance company in Kansas.
I do not know if Reserve Life bought the building after the organization’s departure, or if they were a previous tenant relating the KLoH’s life insurance. In any case, by the time of this advertisement in 1923, this building was likely already demolished. In its place, work would have already been underway for the new Reserve Life Insurance structure that still stands today.
