The Champlain Club was formally established as GOETHE LODGE 592 D.O.H. in 1891 as the Vermont Chapter of Der Deutsche Orden der Harugari (D.O.H.), or the German Order of Harugari, a national German-American mutual benefit and cultural association founded in New York City in 1847. Early meetings took place in members’ homes until the building at 20 Crowley Street was built in 1895. Located in the heart of what was the German immigrant community in Burlington, The Goethe Lodge was part of a national organization that included 30,000 members in 300 lodges in 27 states. It was one of the first secret societies to admit women, starting in 1890, and it’s no longer secret (just shy of being really famous).
The Germanic nature of the club and neighborhood changed in the post-war years and the development of television did much to lessen the draw of neighborhood social clubs. In the 1960s, the local membership hovered around 60-70 people. The club’s bar and lounge areas were open to members several days a week and regularly hosted dinners and other social gatherings. The Goethe Lodge continued and adjusted to the changing cultural landscape and neighborhood, eventually removing a German-descent requirement for membership and, in the 90s, changing its name to The Champlain Club, though it was thought of by many as the ‘German Club’ well into the 21st Century.
This social hall has sustained its purpose as a home for gatherings, dance, and music traditions for more nearly 130 years. During the pandemic, a committed group of volunteers began dreaming about the building’s future. We enlisted a range of partners and stakeholders in the endeavor to save and preserve the Hall as a significant historic and cultural resource. We envision a future that offers the larger community a home for a wide variety of events and activities. In 2021, the hall became a nonprofit Community Trust, and was renamed North Star Community Hall, preserving the building as a home for celebrations, socializing, arts, music lessons, and dance in the heart of Burlington’s diverse Old North End.
Until it became a nonprofit, research indicates that the Hall was likely one of two remaining former-D.O.H. lodges still primarily functioning as a social club for members, the other one being the Harugari Singing Society & German/American Club in West Haven, Connecticut.