Built and financed in 1906 by the Odd Fellows of Fromberg, the two storey brick building immediately became the IOOF Hall upstairs while the downstairs was rented to the Fromberg Co-operative Mercantile for use as a department store. This was the first building in Fromberg to be built of masonry, in this case bricks and mortar. Owned by the patrons of the co-op, its profits were divided among them according to the dollar value of purchases made. The co-op folded in 1911.
The first masonry building in Fromberg, the hall was built by John Gibson, a local contractor, with little money wasted on decoration and embellishment, the only real decoration being brick corbelling at the cornice on the two street sides of the building, serving as cornice brackets, modillions or dentils, depending on one's paradigm. As well, a concrete medallion is inset at the center of the front parapet, just below the cornice, holding metal figures "IOOF," "1906," and the Odd Fellows emblem.
The Odd Fellows themselves were only active for about 20 years, after which the building's fate is unknown until 1964, when the post office moved in, remaining there today.
NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD DEPOT
The Gebo Mine, founded in the Clarks Fork Valley in the late 1890s, brought the tracks of the Northern Pacific to this area. The railroad, however, bypassed the coal mine and the town of Gebo that flourished near it because of difficult accessibility. A spur line to the mine was constructed in 1898, and by early 1899, a small wood-frame depot stood ready north of where the Gebo spur left the main tracks. The railroad named the station “Fromberg” after Northern Pacific stockholder Conrad Fromberg, and it immediately provided local ranchers with a link to distant markets. William Swallow recognized that his land near the depot offered potential for a new townsite. The original six-block townsite of Fromberg was platted in “T-town” form, with the main street perpendicular to the tracks.
The depot, constructed by the railroad from standardized plans for “fourth class combination stations,” originally included a ticket office and waiting room on one end, freight room on the other end, and central living quarters for the agent. Remodeling in 1909 expanded the waiting area into the central apartment, and clapboard siding was applied over the board-and-batten walls. The depot served passengers and freight until 1970. Later moved seventy-five feet to its present location, the building today is the only remaining Northern Pacific depot along the historic Clarks Fork branch line and the last railroad building in Fromberg. In its new function as the Clarks Fork Valley Museum, this railroad veteran is an appropriate ambassador of the region’s rich history and a significant reflection of Fromberg’s roots.
From From the plaque at the depot