| Type | Industrial Corporation |
| Location | Riverdale |
| Owner(s) | Mr. Lodge |
| Featured in | Pep's Archie |
The Lodge Corporation (aka Lodge Amalgamated, Lodge Enterprises, Lodge Industries, and Lodge Company) is the most prominent industrial corporation in the mundane town of Riverdale and is prominently featured in the 1941 Pep comic book series Archie by Bob Montana and John L. Goldwater, having first appeared in issue #31.
Overview
Mr. Lodge with his wife Mrs. Lodge and his daughter and heir, Veronica Lodge
The Lodge Corporation is the most prominent company in all of Riverdale, founded by its very own Mr. Lodge. The company acts as the largest employer in town due to owning most of its factories, businesses and properties, with the company producing a large assortment of capital goods and improving the overall architectural landscape of the town through its many construction and demolition companies, although the company's efforts to expand the urban landscape of the community have occasionally been criticized.
The company has been operating in Rivderdale since Mr. Lodge's married Mrs. Lodge and has provided him and his family a vast fortune which allows their daughter, Veronica Lodge to live a very affluent and spoiled lifestyle that truly makes them the elite of Riverdale.
Staff
CEO
Mr. Lodge, head of Lodge Corp
Mr. Lodge is the patriarch of the Lodge Clan and the founder and chief executive officer of the Lodge Corporation who prides himself on being the most affluent and successful businessman in town.
Mr. Lodge's early days
Mr. Lodge came from humble beginnings, claiming to have earned his fortune through hard work and perseverance by scraping by as a paper boy in his childhood. After a fortunate meeting between the young Mr. Lodge and the wealthy publisher of his newspaper, J. Hugh Fenderhurst, Fenderhurst decided to send the boy to the finest military school in the country after realizing that he couldn't read. Unfortunately, social awkwardness plagued Lodge throughout his youth and early jobs. It wasn't until he got a job at a bookstore that his life changed for the better after meeting the future Mrs. Lodge. With her by his side, he was finally able to achieve success and accumulate his vast fortune... by marrying into her wealthy family, a fact which he is ashamed to admit.
Mr. Lodge and Archie's dynamic
Aside from business and his personal image, Mr. Lodge cares dearly about his daughter Veronica and spoils her whenever possible. However, he detests her sweetheart Archie Andrews, seeing him as a clumsy troublemaker whose mere presence causes pain and bad luck for Mr. Lodge whenever he's around. Despite his short-temper and shrewd persona, Mr. Lodge is a kind man at heart who does care about his community, even his daughter's friends, whether he admits it or not.
Board of Directors
Lodge Corp's Board of Directors
The company's Board of Directors oversee most of the day-to-day business affairs of the company and are usually the first to advise Mr. Lodge against any unsound investments or decisions and are also the first to report to him on the latest news from the corporate grapevine and how his investments play out.
The entire board consists mainly of elderly and grouchy old me who are not afraid to voice their opinions or show disdain towards Mr. Lodge for any poor decisions, but are just as quick to praise him if things go well.
Employees
Old Jonas, a Lodge Corp security guard
Being the largest employer in Riverdale, the company effectively employs over half the town and neighboring communities, with many working at the company's factories or in its many retail stores it owns, and others as secretaries, laborers, construction workers, and security guards. On several occasions, Mr. Lodge has given temporary jobs to his daughter's friends when they're in need of extra cash or a favor, particularly Archie, a fact which will often annoy Mr. Lodge as Archie's brief employments with the company usually either cause grief or bring about dumb luck.
Aside from company employees, Mr. Lodge also employs many personal servants for his estate, particularly butlers and attractive young maids which often distract some of his daughter's male friends, mainly Archie.
Holdings
Lodge Factories
The Lodge Corporation is a major capital goods and munitions manufacturer, having even mass-produced various arms and equipment during the war. Mr. Lodge himself even held a seat on the department of commerce during wartime when he was briefly aiming for governorship, and through some help from Archie Andrews, they were able to pass an influential bill that was widely celebrated for its improvement to the war industry for going against independent concentration.
The company runs several factories both in and out of Riverdale that churn out its heavy industrial goods, although these factories have occasionally been criticized for their excess smog.
Real Estate
Being the largest corporate power in Riverdale, the Lodge Corporation owns many properties in town, mostly those in the area's business district, with Lodge owning several retail stores and other small businesses, or the properties on which they stand, including the property upon which the locally popular Pop Tate's Chocklit Shoppe is built.
Mr. Lodge giving Pop Tate a lifetime lease on his property
During one particular incident, the Chocklit Shoppe was itself condemned and almost demolished by Lodge's own companies, and Pop Tate nearly lost his own life during the wrecking as he refused to abandon his store, but fortunately, after Mr. Lodge was informed by his daughter Veronica of what his companies were doing to Pop Tate, he immediately put a stop to the whole operation, declaring the Chocklit Shop to be a community landmark and giving Pop Tate a permanent lease on the property, ensuring that his shop would never be destroyed or taken from him.
Aside from these, there is also the Lodge Estate, the private residence of the Lodge family which is a sprawling field of land with everything the family could want, including a grand mansion, olympic-sized pool, a vast garden, and much more. The estate also hosts its own horse stables and race track for Mr. Lodge's prize-winning race horses.
Subsidiaries
The Lodge Corporation owns a large number of smaller companies which form a complicated corporate pyramid that even Mr. Lodge himself doesn't fully understand and doesn't even know which companies end up being bought out by the executives who run his corporation.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Trivia
- Mr. Lodge was originally referred to as Burton K. Lodge in his first appearance, but after his debut he was referred to as Lodge Lodge the Third, and after that he was simply called Mr. Lodge and later by a slew of names 20 years after his debut, including but not limited to J.P. Lodge, Hiram P. Lodge, Albert Lodge, Henry K. Lodge and several others.