An Ellsworth institution that has served veterans and the community will mark its 100th anniversary with a celebration Saturday.

The Ellsworth Kinne-Englehart American Legion Post 204 marks a century of service with an open house from noon – 6 p.m. at the Legion Post, 139 S. Oak St., Ellsworth.

A memorial program with State Assembly Rep. Warren Petryk is planned for 2:30 p.m. With COVID19 in mind, there will be a drive-thru luncheon served from 3 – 5:30 p.m., featuring burgers, brats and sides.

“Everyone is welcome to attend to commemorate this occasion,” Legion member and event organizer Jack Hines said. “These are the people that made our country what it is today.”

The ceremony will also include the group’s Honor Guard, and lost members of the Post will be remembered from the last year, which is usually done on Memorial Day, but that ceremony was cancelled by the pandemic.

The Ellsworth Post was started in 1920 under first commander George Devine, today, Post 204 still boasts 290 members. Current Post Commander is Gary Regenschield.

The proclamation put together to note the occasion contains history of the organization. It notes that “legion members originally met at the Old Fireman’s Opera House. The Opera House later burned down in a spectacular fire.” For many years members met at different locations in town.

The current post building was originally a horse barn that Pierce County owned and no longer wanted. It gave it to the Legion Post, and the building was upgraded in anticipation of soldiers returning from WWII. The group started meeting in the building in 1944.

Devine was 27 when he “became commander of Kinne-Engelhart Post 204 from 1920-22 and profoundly shaped the post into what it is today.”

The name of the post honors Eldon C. Kinne of Ellsworth, a World War I solider killed in action. It was originally known as the Eldon C. Kinne Post 204. It was rechartered as the Kinne-Englehart Post 204 in 1944, to pay homage to Virgil Englehart, a World War II Navy sailor from Ellsworth, who died when the rescue ship he was on sank.

Kinne-Englehart Post 204, gives two scholarships per year, co-sponsors Boy Scout Troop 138 with the Ellsworth Fire Department, sponsors a boy to Badger Boy's State, organizes Memorial Day and Veteran's Day events, supports the Ellsworth Community School District, through contributions to the Ellsworth Community School District Foundation, Inc. and contributes to many other causes local, state and national.