I.O.O.F. Building - Waxahachie, TX
N 32° 23.088 W 096° 50.934
14S E 702350 N 3585124
A simple neon sign is at the corner of the historic Independent Order of Odd Fellows building, at 208 ½ S Rogers, Waxahachie, TX.
Waymark Code: WMMAX8
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 08/24/2014
Views: 7
The sign is L-shaped, with identical text on both sides. "IOOF" is illuminated in red, running vertically, while "BLDG." is in blue, running horizontally. By day, the letters are white. There are several antique and craft shops in the building, and the Odd Fellows themselves have a little history on their website: (
visit link)
Waxahachie Odd Fellows Lodge No. 80 was instituted by the Grand Lodge of Texas in 1859 but demised because of the Civil War. It was resuscitated a few years after the war as Lodge No. 129 on July 6, 1871, but it was changed back to No. 80 by permission of the Grand Lodge in 1872. There were seven Charter Members of Lodge No. 80. John T. King (Sheriff of Ellis County several times between 1861-76), O.R. Partain, James Smith, E.V.B. Sweatt, Lee Burchaim, S. H. Overstreet and C. R. Gibson. Gibson (Texas Speaker of the House), was the last surviving charter member of Waxahachie Lodge No. 80 (death October 22, 1925).
The Waxahachie lodge first started meeting upstairs in the Kennedy building which was located on the corner of Water and Rogers streets. About 1873 they began to meet up-stairs over the old Texas Power and Light office in the center of the block. This structure was on the North side of the square on Main Street. In May 1883 they moved to the corner of Main and College streets to a rock and wood plank building (present site of the Kress-Penn building) where they met for a year. Around 1884 the old rock building was demolished and the Lodge built a three-story Renaissance Revival building. The Lodge met on the top floor while Spalding Furniture and Undertaking operated on the first floor. The Lodge met there until, tragically, a fire destroyed the building. This occurred Sunday morning, Nov. 12, 1911 destroying all Lodge records, furnishings and regalia. The lodge met in the Knights of Pythias hall on the corner of Main and Rogers for several months.
Our current building on South Rogers Street was built in 1891 by the Texas Mortgage Banking Co. for their offices. The lodge purchased the building December 16, 1911. Lodge was first held in the building on March 29, 1912.