Once a former meat locker, Morrison American Legion Post 328 has undergone a remarkable transformation thanks to years of dedicated volunteer work and leadership.

Under the guidance of Jerry Brearton, finance officer and sergeant-at-arms, the Post has seen major renovations over the past seven years, including a remodeled kitchen, an updated bathroom and newly installed cabinets – all completed by Legion volunteers, many of them in their 70s and 80s.

Using about $30,000 in proceeds from the Post’s matured certificate of deposit, Brearton was first tasked with putting together a crew to tear out the old kitchen and install a new one.

He said that at the time, the space had an unpainted cement floor and was filled with mismatched, donated furniture, including chairs from a local funeral home. Meat hooks still hung from the ceiling, which had to be torched off, and what Brearton described as a “makeshift” kitchen had been cobbled together.

“And I do mean makeshift,” Brearton said. “It had an old stainless steel deep sink; and a refrigerator and a stove; and what they called the counter, but it was really kind of a workbench from a garage.”

For more than a year, the crew gathered for two hours on Monday evenings to transform the kitchen. At one point, they decided to expand the kitchen into an adjoining side room by tearing out the wall – but the decision came at a price.

Because the building had formerly been a meat locker, its walls were close to 16 inches thick. But Brearton and his crew were not the type to “give up the ship.”

“It created a lot of extra work,” Brearton said. “We used sledgehammers mostly. And it was layer after layer of plaster, and then chicken wire, and then cork, and then more plaster and cement. ... While guys would be hammering away at it, other people would have a shovel, scooping up the things and sweeping the dust, and carrying it out to a dumpster that we had acquired. It was a lot of work for a long time.”

Legion member and cabinet maker John Martin offered to create and install new cabinets for the kitchen, even paying for the materials himself.

“We were prepared to pay him, even if it was in installments, but he’s never billed us,” Brearton said. “So, we pay his dues every year. He’s what we call an honorary life member.”

With the money left over from the Post’s certificate of deposit, they decided to remodel the bathroom next. Brearton recalled how cramped the bathroom felt when visiting the former meat locker as a young child, tagging along with his mother to pick up meat.

They decided to remove part of the old structure to open up the space, but doing so unearthed remnants of the building’s former life. The structure had once used an oil furnace, and while the tank already had been removed thanks to a previous switch to natural gas, the thick pedestal that once supported it still was in place. It measured about a foot thick and took up significant space in the area they hoped to incorporate into the new bathroom.

To work around it, the crew eventually decided to build a small set of steps and create a drop-down space – not for the bathroom itself, but for a utility room behind it. The updated bathroom now includes a shower, heavy-duty handrails and a baby-changing station.

As the renovations wrapped up, Brearton said the Post was in a strong financial position. They had received several monetary donations, and a few local businesses had either donated or provided deep discounts on appliances for the kitchen, including a dishwasher, a stainless steel refrigerator and a stove.

Brearton also ordered a mural featuring the emblems of all the U.S. military branches, including the newly added Space Force.

“It spanned three or four panels and turned out beautifully,” Brearton said.

Around the same time, Morrison began a major downtown street renovation. Brearton said that at first, the block in front of the Post was not part of the city’s original plan. But he and other Legion members attended City Council meetings, petitioning for a ramp to be added at the Post’s entrance, since the Legion’s front door sat about 14 inches above the sidewalk.

The city ultimately decided to raise the level of the entire block – so much so that a separate ramp was no longer needed.

But just as Brearton was beginning to relax from two years of renovation work, he received a call while on a Mississippi River cruise that would cut his celebration short.

“I get a call from the fire chief in town. He said, ‘Hey, just to let you know, I’m up in the attic of the Legion, and the post is on fire,’” Brearton said.

But despite the sudden phone call, it turned out there was not an actual fire.

Brearton said that at one point during the city’s major street reconstruction project, a dump truck operator had positioned his vehicle perpendicular to the Post while unloading gravel. As he raised the truck bed, the bucket struck overhead electrical wires. He then drove forward, which yanked them from the building.

Although the wires did not fully disconnect, the damage was enough to spark what is known in U.S. Navy terms as a “Class Charlie fire,” or an electrical fire.

The building filled with smoke, prompting an emergency response. Brearton said the situation was confusing for everyone involved.

“There was so much smoke they couldn’t even find the fire chief,” Brearton said.

Firefighters began tearing into drywall and tracing electrical lines, inspecting the wiring and searching for the source of the smoke. Eventually, they located the problem: A screw had pierced the back of a metal light switch box and was making contact with a ground connection behind it. The short was enough to cause widespread electrical issues.

“Even when the fire department pulled the meter, it didn’t solve the problem,” Brearton said. “But when they pulled that screw out, everything stopped.”

Brearton considers the event a strange kind of fortune. The contractor’s insurance company took responsibility for the damage and repairs, going beyond basic fixes.

“They redid everything we didn’t have done,” Brearton said. “No one got hurt. It was really a blessing in disguise.”

As the Post’s sergeant-at-arms, Brearton has made it a priority to keep the Legion visible in the community. One of its most meaningful annual traditions is the flag retirement ceremony, held on the last Sunday of September.

What began as a simple, modest event – “a few trash cans, a hole in the ground and just a handful of spouses” – has since evolved into a more formal public ceremony.

Although public turnout remains modest despite efforts to promote it through churches and community outreach, Brearton remains committed.

“It’s all about keeping us on the map, because every organization is facing membership problems these days,” Brearton said.

The Post’s membership has declined in recent years, but Brearton does his best to keep the Legion a vital part of the Morrison community, hosting annual ceremonies and maintaining regular meetings. He said staying active and visible is key to the Post’s continued relevance.

“Memorial Day is our big one. We put out over 1,000 flags just at Grove Hill Cemetery, and then we put out several hundred flags in rural Morrison cemeteries,” Brearton said. “I have a team that does it. They take a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, and they ride around, get their clipboards, and figure out where they go, and put them out.”

For more information on Post 328, visit morrisonamericanlegion.org.