• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Dayton Vistas

A Look at the Past, Present, and Future of the Gem City

Connect with Dayton Vistas

  • Bluesky
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • TikTok
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Hire Me
  • Categories
    • Historical Dayton
    • New Developments
    • Dayton Culture
  • Article Archives
  • Catalog of Historic Dayton Buildings
  • My Dayton Book

Odd Fellows (IOOF) Building History in Dayton

March 13, 2025 By Andrew Walsh 4 Comments


oddfellows temple third and jefferson

The building at the SW corner of Third and Jefferson Streets looks very ordinary today but is actually an old landmark that is unrecognizable from what it once was.

It was originally a 4-story Gothic Revival stone structure built circa 1870 as a temple for the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the fraternal organization known for emphasizing friendship, charity, benevolence, and community involvement.

The land was owned by prominent Daytonian Mary Belle Eaker and her sister Leticia. They leased the lot to the Odd Fellows and the building they constructed was not only used as a meeting hall but “was considered one of the finest office buildings in Dayton and space in it was much sought after.”

The building even appeared in an 1878 article about Dayton in The Daily Graphic, a New York City newspaper that was the first in the United States to feature daily illustrations. The article featured sketches and photographs by Charles H. Miller of a variety of Dayton landmarks.

Odd Fellows Hall at Third and Jefferson is seen at bottom left of this 1878 story in The Daily Graphic

The Odd Fellows Hall took up the top two floors while the ground floor housed the Merchants National Bank and at one point the Ferneding Shoe Company.

To give one example of a large event hosted at the temple, the IOOF hosted the Knights of Pythias (a different fraternal organization) in 1898 for that group’s annual meeting:

“The I. O. O. F. tendered a delightful reception to the visiting Knights yesterday afternoon from 2 to 5 o’clock. The Odd Fellows Temple, southwest corner Third and Jefferson streets, was thrown open to the visitors, and all of the local I. O. O. F. lodges were represented in the reception. The delegates called in a body at the Temple, where Sir Knights S. A. Dickson introduced them. Mr. Frank Garrett made an address of welcome, to which Mr. W. C. Thompson, of Lebanon, and Postmaster Brown, of Cincinnati, responded. Profuse and beautiful decorations adorned the Temple, in the center of which had been arranged a bank of palms surrounded by a triangular table, at which refreshments were served … The visitors spent yesterday afternoon, there being no grand lodge session, in visiting places of interest about the city. The Soldiers’ Home, Fairview Park, and the base ball park, the National Cash Register Works, the Water Works, and the Barney & Smith Car Shops, seemed to be of especial interest to the delegates and their wives.”

The Odd Fellows occupied the building until 1920, at which point it passed by will to the Miami Valley Hospital Society, which moved in in 1935 and removed the top two floors and the tower.

In the 1940s, there was an odd legal dispute over a tiny seven by nine foot portion of the SW corner of the property. The Eaker sisters had originally reserved this space for themselves as their home was next door to the south on Jefferson St. The hospital society sued Henry Hollencamp and the National Market company who had moved into the space in 1937.

And the Hollencamp name would remain connected to the property for decades, as the former Odd Fellows building was occupied by the Turner, Granzow and Hollenkamp law firm as of the 1980s.

Today what’s left of the old temple houses the Key Ads advertising company.

And another interesting connection is the fact that original landlord Eaker also built the Eaker (Cooper) building that once stood in the East Second Street Historic District at the NE corner of Main and Second, which was demolished but the facade saved and moved to Third Street, now on the other side of the RTA parking lot from the old Odd Fellows building.

Other Odd Fellows Halls and IOOF History in Dayton

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.) was founded in 1819 in Baltimore. Historically, there were many Oddfellows lodges in various parts of Dayton. Montgomery lodge was founded in 1833, Wayne lodge in 1840, Schiller lodge in 1843, and Buckeye lodge in 1845.

For many years Dayton’s Frank Garrett (mentioned in the earlier anecdote) served as “scribe of the great encampment of Ohio” with headquarters in the main temple.

Another prominent Odd Fellows building was located in St. Anne’s Hill at 8 Labelle Street but it was demolished in 2014 and is now a parking lot.

This was built for the sixth lodge in the Dayton area, Lodge No. 273, which was established in 1855. That group rented several spaces and saw steady growth, reaching 368 members by 1908. In 1911 the Labelle St. Lodge was built as its first permanent home. The lodge disbanded in 1982 after 126 years in service.

odd fellows hall st annes hill dayton

Other Odd Fellows buildings in the early 20th century were located at Fifth and Commercial Streets (known as the Druid Odd Fellows Building) and Third and Springfield Streets.

The third story of the building on the left, The Ohio Block at Third and Kenton Streets, also housed an Odd Fellows hall

Later there were several lodge consolidations, including Montgomery and Wayne lodges merging with Gem City in 1935 and Buckeye and Anderton lodges combining with Dayton lodge.

And of course there are other buildings for fraternal societies in Dayton, the most prominent of those being the Masonic Temple next to the Dayton Art Institute. In comparison to the Odd Fellows, the Masons tend to focus more on self-improvement and moral teachings and their activities typically involve more secrecy.

Sources

Dayton Herald, 5/25/1898

Journal Herald, 1/20/1944

Society Files Suit, Dayton Herald, 4/6/1945

Images courtesy of Dayton Metro Library

Labelle St Lodge History, Preservation Dayton, https://www.facebook.com/groups/330998710746354/posts/1545409449305268/

Related Posts:

  • third jefferson dayton fire blocks aerial
    Then and Now: Aerial of Third and Jefferson, Fire Blocks
  • dayton masonic temple
    Masonic Temple (Dayton Masonic Center) History
  • odd fellows hall st annes hill dayton
    More Dayton Demolitions: East Side as Seen via Streetview
  • lutzenberge_566_full
    Downtown Dayton's YMCA Buildings: History and What's Left
Enjoying Dayton Vistas?
Take a look at Andrew's book Lost Dayton, Ohio. You can also subscribe to our newsletter for periodic updates of new articles.

Filed Under: Historical Dayton Tagged With: Clubs and Societies, Frank Garrett, Gothic Architecture, Mary Belle Eaker, Merchants National Bank, Miami Valley Hospital Society, Newspapers, Odd Fellows, St. Anne's Hill

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Christopher Joseph says

    March 18, 2025 at 7:18 pm

    I’m curious why the MV Hospital society would go to the trouble of taking off two stories? It’s really odd.

    Reply
    • Andrew Walsh says

      March 19, 2025 at 12:44 pm

      Yes, I found that quite odd as well. I even read one news article from around when they took over the building that said they were considering reducing it to just 1 story! But nothing I found gave much in the way of a rationale.

      Reply
  2. Tom Eastridge says

    March 19, 2025 at 11:56 pm

    I wish I could remember the source but I had read somewhere several years ago that the top floors were removed after a fire. I’m wondering now if that was true. This building was also home to WONE-AM Radio which went on the air in 1949. Their address was listed as 5 S. Jefferson, which, I’m assuming, must have been a side-entrance. WONE later moved from this building to 380 W. First in 1953.

    Reply
    • Andrew Walsh says

      April 2, 2025 at 1:30 pm

      Thanks Tom. I did later find a source (possibly the same one) that did say the top floors were damaged in a fire in the 1930s. Very odd that none of the newspaper articles from the period (that I found at least) mentioned it. And thanks for mentioning WONE: another prominent tenant with a connection to the building.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Search the Dayton Vistas Archives

My book explores a diverse selection of retail, industrial, entertainment and residential sites from Dayton's disappearing legacy.
Read More

About Dayton Vistas

I'm Andrew Walsh, a writer and academic librarian. I research Dayton history, architecture, preservation, and urban redevelopment.

Read More

Get New Posts via Email


Latest Posts

901 keowee st

Award-Winning Architecture at the Corner of Keowee and Webster

historic building at washington and longworth dayton

Midtown Survivors at Washington and Longworth

historic view of east side of main street, downtown dayton

Urban Renewal and Lost Buildings at Main and 3rd

heritage coffeeshop university of dayton built 1903

Lesser-Known Historic Buildings of the University of Dayton

dayton masonic temple

Masonic Temple (Dayton Masonic Center) History

dayton commercial building during construction 1900s

The Commercial Building: Before and During Construction

Browse Historic Dayton

newcom tavern daytonA Catalog of Historic Dayton Buildings (with years, pics, type, area, status, etc.)

Recent Comments

  • Mollie Hauser on The Last Old Buildings on the West Side of Downtown
  • William "Rusty" Pietrzak on The Diner on St. Clair: a History and an Uncertain Future
  • Laura J Merrell on Historic Buildings on the University of Dayton Campus
  • Накрутка мобильными on Lost Commercial Buildings at Main and Franklin

Articles By Topic

Architecture Banking Brown Street Churches Commercial Building Dayton Arcade Dayton Daily News Delco Demolition Downtown East Dayton Features Fidelity Building Fire Blocks District Great Flood of 1913 Historic Homes House Histories Huffman Industrial Buildings John H Patterson NCR Old Dayton Maps Old North Dayton Oregon District Paul Laurence Dunbar Preservation Rare Dayton Photos Restaurants Retail Rike's Sanborn Maps Santa Clara South Park Sports St. Anne's Hill Then and Now Twin Towers University of Dayton Urban Planning Urban Renewal Wayne Avenue West Dayton Windsor Companies Wright-Dunbar Wright Brothers

Copyright © 2025 · News Pro On Genesis Framework · Affiliate Disclosure and Privacy Policy · WordPress · Log in