Historic Downtown Salem #73: Odd Fellows Hall

185-195 High Street NE

Odd Fellows Hall on September 4, 2006

Chemeketa Lodge No. 1 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows was designed by Walter D. Pugh and John Gray of Salem in the Richardian Romanesque style and was built in 1900 by Erixon and Van Patten. The Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF), a fraternal order that provided members with benefits for illness, funerals and various other community services, was founded in Salem in 1852 and has been located on this site since 1869. The building was originally topped by a large bell tower, which was removed after being damaged in a January 31, 1937 snowstorm.

A one-story brick addition was built on the west side in the fall of 1900 measuring 24 feet along Court Street by 80 feet deep. This addition originally contained two stores that shared a common entrance. The Grand Opera House opened on November 29, 1900, with John Philip Sousa’s comic operetta “El Capitan.” At the time, Salem had a population of 4,258, and opera admissions ranged from $1.00 for orchestra seats to 25 cents for the highest gallery seats. The first offices in the Odd Fellows Hall were rented by Dr. Grace Albright on March 1, 1901, and by Dr. W.H. Byrd on March 16, 1901. The corner retail space was rented in July 1901 to Fred Haas who operated a drug store. The space remained occupied by drug stores for over 60 years, including the Opera House Pharmacy and the Wiles Drug Store. Other occupants of the building included tailor D. H. Mosher from 1908 to 1942, cobbler V. E. Kuhn from 1920 to 1956, a barbershop, a jewelry store, and Roen’s Typewriters. In later years, the building was also used as a bus station. Income from the rental of the opera house, retail shops and office space supported the work of the Odd Fellows.

In 1922, a concrete addition was added to the original addition on the west side of the building. The Grand Opera House began showing silent movies in the 1920s, becoming the Grand Theater, and the Grand String Orchestra often accompanied them. Once movies with sound were introduced, stage shows were presented in the afternoon with movies screened at night. When the Elsinore Theater opened in 1927, the crowds began to abandon the Grand Theater. James DeYoung redesigned the Grand Theater in 1935. In 1935-1937 Frank H. Strubble made revisions to the building, the addition to the west, and the Central State Terminal and Hotel to the south. He made further revisions in 1951, and James L. Payne made further revisions in 1952. The Grand Theater finally closed in the late 1950s. In the early 1960s, the Grand Theater reopened as a venue for Salem wrestling matches, which continued until 1984 when the building became the venue for the Salem Theater of Performing Arts. The Odd Fellows Hall was placed on the National register of Historic Places on April 8, 1988. The IOOF sold the building in 1995, moving to a new lodge building in West Salem. Today this building is home to the Grand Ballroom. It is one of only two remaining buildings in the commercial district designed in Richardsonian Romanesque style.

Additional Links:
Oddfellows at Salem Online History
Grand Theatre at Puget Sound Theatre Organ Society
Grand Theatre at the Salem Online Community Guide

Historical Photos:
Odd Fellows Hall, 1903 (Oregon State Library)
Odd Fellows Hall, 1920s (Salem Public Library)
Odd Fellows Hall, 1932 (Salem Public Library)
Odd Fellows Hall, 1992 (Salem Public Library)

Continue to 74: Meyers & D’Arcy Building…