Uptown Kenosha's Danish Brotherhood Lodge is Destroyed by Fire

Aug. 25, 2020 2:15a; Updated at 4:45a

(WGTD)---Members of the Danish Brotherhood Lodge #14 are mourning the loss of their fraternal home for some 110 years. 

According to a post on the group's Facebook page, rioters set fire to the Lodge's first floor tenant--a mattress store--that fronts 22nd Ave. at 63rd St. 

Within minutes, the building was engulfed in flames, and eventually collapsed. 

"This makes my heart and stomach hurt so bad," posted Donna Jensen. "So many great memories at the Danish Brotherhood!," she said. 

Gary Sorensen said his great-grandfather helped to build the two-story structure in 1910. "My grandfather was a member, as many great uncles. Many family parties held here...," he wrote.

The building stood across the street from a multi-tenant building with apartments that was destroyed by fire Aug. 12th. That fire was believed to be accidental. 

Several buildings along 60th Street were set ablaze Monday night by rioters that appeared to roam through the streets nearly unchecked, despite a curfew and a National Guard presence.

Buildings damaged or destroyed on 60th included the state's probation and parole office, a used furniture store and a car lot. 

Three people were arrested with looted merchandise after leaving the Target store in Pleasant Prairie.

One or two others may have been arrested for trying to start a library on fire. 

There were other reports of fires and looting. 

The Kenosha Fire Department called in surrounding communities for help. 

Police did what they could to respond to so many calls. A WGTD reporter early Tuesday morning witnessed three squads converge on two or three suspicious vehicles in the parking lot of the closed C-V-S store at Washington Rd. and 22nd Ave. The drivers of two of the vehicles crashed into each other in their haste to flee. A chase went north and east of the store. It wasn't immediatley clear how it ended. 

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