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.
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.
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.
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/
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