202 Main Street
The IOOF Building - International Order of Odd Fellows -In 1886, the social society, the International Order of Odd Fellows, funded the construction of this brick building. The Odd Fellows held their meeting upstairs which was reported as handsomely furnished, and was supplied with “electric lighting appliances.”
The society originated in England in the 1700s; some say as an offshoot of Free Masonry. It came to America in the early 1800’s. The society’s symbol or emblem is the chain with three links, meaning friendship, love, and truth. Odd Fellows are also known as “The Three Link Fraternity.” On the peak of this building, the date 1886 is visible along with the three links.
One of the earliest businesses to use the ground floor was James I. Patten’s drug store. In 1887 the Fremont Clipper newspaper reported the owner carried “an immense stock of drugs, toilet articles and druggist sundries.” “An efficient pharmacist is at all times found in attendance and prescriptions carefully compounded.”
Over the years the building has housed a saloon, the Golden Rule Store, an upstairs bowling alley, the Stockgrowers’ Bar and Several Restaurants.
