Oddfellows Building

he Independent Order of Oddfellows Globe Lodge No. 6 was chartered in 1885. The brothers in good standing were the managers and other big-shots at the Old Dominion Mine. This restricted membership did not please the Grand Lodge of Arizona, so they nullified the charter of Globe Lodge No. 6. Globe Lodge No. 12 with open membership, was chartered in 1891.

By the mid-1890’s, the Oddfellows decided that they needed a meeting place of their own. They acquired a lot on the west side of Broad Street and began to draw up plans and solicit funds. The Oddfellows Building was the first two-story structure in the business district. It was built of fired bricks in the Victorian Vernacular style.

The Oddfellows Hall stood tall and elegant in its block. Its meeting rooms on the second floor were furnished with massive hand-carved furniture which is still in use today. The façade remained essentially unchanged until after the second World War, when significant alterations left only traces of its Victorian beginnings.

In 1996, a fire gutted the first story and damaged the rooms and furnishings upstairs. Repairs were made in the Oddfellows chambers, and the first floor was remodeled and made ready for new tenants. The Oddfellows are now in their second century of carrying out their fraternal and community services.