Beyond Limits Lodge welcomes guests

Masonic Building

A new chapter opened this week in the life of a more than century old building in downtown Superior. During its life, the building has housed many things. For about the last 62 years, it housed the meeting rooms for the Superior Masonic bodies.

The building is now owned by Red Poppy Enterprises and houses the Beyond Limits Lodge.

Friday, the new owners and operators, Rhonda (Fleming) Ahrens and her son, Payne Ahrens, took an Express reporter on a guided tour through the building which has been has been a nearby neighbor of The Express for more than a century.

The lodge housed it's first paying guests on the weekend.

Payne, a resident of Superior and the grandson of former Superior residents, the late Mr. and Mrs. Loren Ahrens, has for the past five years operated a hunting guide service for pheasant and quail. That business is known as Blue Skies Outfitters.

Hunters who employ his services usually have successful hunts for each year because of the large amount of habitat work and summer stocking programs Payne has implemented. He then guides the hunters to the areas he has worked to improve alongside his German Shorthairs.

In previous years, the hunters have found accommodations elsewhere in the area but they had to compete with others for the limited number of beds and sometimes he wasn't able to schedule a hunt because of the lack of lodging. Now, with the Beyond Limits Lodge, Blue Skies Outfitters expects to have rooms for its customers whenever the calendar allows a hunt to be scheduled.

It's been quite a process converting what was built as a retail store into a lodge hall. The work is far from being done. At least six dumpsters have been filled with trash.

Five large rooms with three baths and a large common area are now available on the upper floor for communal style living. The new owners' initial goal was to have five to seven rooms.

Most rooms are outfitted with a queen-size bed with a bunk above and a third bed. One room has a king-size bed.

The large common area on the upper floor is furnished with large screen televisions, pool table, dart boards and appropriate furniture.

Wood burned pine trim accentuates the rooms. The walls are finished with new sheet rock and a modern plank flooring had been installed. All baths have full-size showers. High speed fiber internet service is available so the tenants can stay connected with the world.

There is an operational chair lift for those not able to climb the stairs and multiple exits to meet the fire code.

Once a fire suppression system is installed, the number of people which may occupy the lodge will be increased.

While the primary purpose of lodge is to provide lodging for Blue Skies' hunting customers, others may rent the lodge when it is not booked by hunters. The operators envision it being suitable for events like class reunions and family gatherings.

The first floor is much like it was when the Masons occupied the building. A laundry room has been added with washer and dryer. The kitchen has been preserved with little change. However future plans call for adding a dishwasher, hood and grill.

Several first floor configurations are being considered including an event center or commercial space.

John Mullet and his father-in-law, Willam Long, had the two-story brick building with full basement built in 1903. They had some tough luck trying to ship in the plate glass windows and because of breakage multiple shipments were needed. The windows were removed and the openings bricked closed during the Masons tenure. The building dimensions are 35 x 75 feet and is located at the corner of Third and Commercial. It originally faced the south and had a Third Street address but when the south openings were closed the address changed to Commercial Street. It had window wells to allow light into the basement, an exterior basement entrance on the east side along with a basement extension under the sidewalk on the east.

While electrical and plumbing work has been hired out, three generations of owners' family have done much of the demolition and remodelling work.

Preserving a historic building is somewhat like coming home for the owners.

Rhonda was raised on the Fleming farm north of Deshler and her mother has helped with the current remodelling work. Rhonda now lives and works in Omaha. Payne was raised in Gretna. However, his goal has been to return to a rural area. Married to the former Reata Elting of the Deshler area, they have established their home in his grandmother's home in East Superior.

With remodelling well underway on the lodge, Rhonda said her mother has informed her, "When we have family reunions and family meals like Thanksgiving, you have the space and are hosting, not me."

Blue Skies has served a number of hunters from the Omaha area, but the outfitters also has customers from far away places like Louisiana and Alabama.

The East Third Street location has an interesting history,

In early 1883, only five years after Superior was established, William and Nancy Gilmore purchased 156 East Third and built a wooden store building. To the north in 1894, the Bossemeyer family built Superior's first elevator.

In early 1884, Ernest Bossemeyer located his East Side Grocery in the Gilmore building.

In 1901, William Long and John Mullet removed the Gilmore building and in 1903, they built the present two-story brick building with full basement.

The first floor was used for retail space with a large meeting room or hall on the second floor. When the Republican Valley irrigation project was being developed the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation used the hall as an office, and much of the project design work was completed in that office.

As late as 1908, the Edison Theater was showing movies in the hall. Adult admission was 10 cents. In 1944 and 1945 the hall housed a youth center.

In 1909, Long sold his interest in the building to Clyde H. Hodges who located his grocery and general merchandise store in the building. In 1916, Mullet sold his interest to Hodges.

In 1925, Hodges became postmaster. The post office was located in the western half of the building until the present federal building opened in 1936. When the post office moved out, a shoe repair shop moved in. The shop proprietor maintained living quarters in the back of his shop.

The Armour Company operated a poultry processing plant and creamery east of the present VFW Club on East First Street. The company's cream station was located in the east half of the Hodges building.

In November of 1955, the Armour company and Beatrice Foods swapped some territory and the Armour company closed its Superior creamery.

Lloyd Elliott was manager of the cream station and five country cream collection routes were operated out of Superior. The cream collected on those routes was brought to the cream station for shipment onto a processing plant.

Ownership of the building was transferred from the Hodges family to the Masons in 1959. The current owners purchased the buidling in March 2024.