Swan's Island: Six miles east of ordinary

The Improved Order of Red Men was a national fraternal organization that became popular on Swan's Island in the early 1900s. Redmen’s Hall was a two-story building constructed around 1905 in Swan’s Island village. From the waterfront, the hall stood out tall against the horizon, as can be seen from the photograph at the left.

The Redmen and their sister organization, the Degree of Pocahontas, used the building for their Lodge meetings and events. It also housed dances, social gatherings, and had a movie projector. The Lodge room and kitchen were upstairs, while the dance hall and movie projector were downstairs. There was a stage with an organ on the western end of the building, farthest from the road. A Dr. Dennison used to give shots on the second floor. The Redmen faded out on Swan's Island, and were inactive by World War II.

Island resident Marion Stinson speaks of the hall: "I remember just one play there that—oh, Leora Wyman had, she had girls come here one time and it was, the hall was lovely. It was big, it was beautiful. Inside, you know the curtain that goes up, that was so pretty. But that’s about all I remember of that because...they tore it down after that."

Sonny Sprague remembers crawling into the first floor compartment that housed the projector and playing 'submarine' as a child. In the late 1940's, the building was already in disrepair with a caving floor. There were still costumes in the back room. The building was torn down in the 1960s, and its lumber was used for other houses.