St. Louis Park Lodge # 202 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows was chartered on July 18, 1892. The organization began in 17th Century England as a charitable organization that helped needy families, especially in providing burial expenses. The I.O.O.F. was established in the U.S. on April 26, 1819 in Baltimore. The “Four Great Commands” were to “Visit the Sick, Relieve the Distressed, Bury the Dead, and Educate the Orphan,” according to a 1950 pamphlet.
The group first met on July 23, 1892 at Lincoln School. [One account says the first meeting was at 12 North Washington Ave.] “North Star Lodge and Anchor Lodge put on the four degrees, and installed the new officers.” Charter members were E.A. Durkey, Grant Bacon, J.E. Stilles (first Noble Grand), Chesley Hamilton, Homer Jones, George E. Williams, George Little, George Edmisan, Hugh McDonald, George Torkelson, and Oscar Bakke. Members joining on the first night were C.B. Waddell, Joe Lusler, H.R. Nelson, Amos Morton, James Martin, J.L. Rutledge, T.D. Hall, A.J. Drew, Gilbert Docken and P. Clark. From early on, the chapter met at the Hamilton Building.
A celebration for members with at least 25 years’ membership was held in the 1940s, and the long-time members included Charles Sewall, William Friegang, Joe Williams (1892), Louis L. “Doc” Brown (1902), and Jake Werner. The Lodge’s main service activity in 1950 was providing CARE packages to Germany.
One slightly odd thing the group did was to present a “jug of friendship” to a host lodge while visiting. A picture from May 1933 has our noble grand presenting said jug to the Hopkins noble grand.
Above: Earl Ames’ membership card from 1955. On the back is a “Telegraphic Cypher and Key,” a kind of code members used to alert other lodges to imposters.
The St. Louis Park Odd Fellows Lodge merged with the Morningside Lodge and moved to 44th and France.
The last mention of the Odd Fellows in the Park directories is in 1967, where No. 167 Golden Link Lodge is listed. This appears to be a consolidated Lodge that covered the entire metropolitan area, since officers were from Minneapolis, St. Paul, Mound, and Spring Lake Park. The headquarters of this group was at 4388 France Avenue in Edina.
In recent years, as Odd Fellows lodges have closed nationwide, workmen have been discovering wooden boxes containing skeletons hidden in closets, drawers, attics, and crawl spaces. It turns out that skeletons, symbols of mortality, were used in initiation rites. It seems likely that, if there was a local Mr. Bones, he probably perished when the Hamilton Building burned down in 1958, as did the original charter. The replacement charter is at the St. Louis Park Historical Society.
THE REBEKAHS
The women’s auxiliary of the Odd Fellows, Rebekah Lodge No. 110, was organized in1902. They also met in the Hamilton Building, subletting from the Odd Fellows for 50 cents a night. Charter members were Anna Keller Brown, Bessie Eilertson, Emma Depew, Ida Crisp, Mary Burt, Elizabeth Miller, Della (Hamilton) Miller, and Anna Gibson. A number of records of the Rebekahs are held by the St. Louis Park Historical Society.
A cookbook called “Tip Top Recipes” was issued by the Rebekahs in 1953. It was dedicated to the “Charter Members of our Order,” with a list of names of both men and women. Were these the charter members, or the members as of 1953? Those names are: Bessie Eilertson, Emma DePew, Ida Crisp, Mary Burt, Elizabeth Miller, Della Miller, Anna Gibson, Anna Bakke, Mary Bakke, Estella Wadell, Florence Wood, Annie Keller, Hattie Yorgey, Sarah Hamilton, C.H. Hamilton, L.L. Brown, George Williams, George W. Gibson, Homer S. Jones, C.B. Waddell, and Fred Crisp.