The Independent Order of Odd Fellows has been in Ottawa since 1848. To mark its 175th anniversary, Lodge 41 will have a fundraising party at The Alley, the bowling alley that used to be Pinheadz, at noon on Saturday next week (February 25).
Ray Jackson from Lodge 41 says it’s a charitable service club that started as a beneficial society of people who took care of each other when they had problems. The club would take care of sick members or help unemployed members find work.
Since the New Deal, the order has transformed from members helping each other to helping everyone else. There’s not as much need for the former anymore in an era when life insurance, unemployment insurance, and other aid are common. Maybe someone with medical bills or who needs a wheelchair ramp at home can get help. Jackson points out that Pres. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was an Odd Fellow and the order helped him usher in the new era.
Although the order helped FDR, Jackson says the Odd Fellows is a non-political organization. Any adult of any race, creed, or gender can join if he or she is willing to commit to becoming a better person by helping others. Somewhat like the fraternal organizations men in old TV shows go to, there are an initiation, levels of admittance, and things to learn which aren’t shared with the public.
Jackson says there are a few ideas about how the order got its name. One is that other clubs, such as the Masons, were for people of certain occupations. But the Odd Fellows took in people of various other trades. In those days, odd didn’t necessarily mean unusual. It often meant extra or miscellaneous, as in odds and ends. Whatever the origin, the name generates questions that give members opportunities to talk about what they do.
Last week, the Ottawa City Council gave the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Lodge 41 a proclamation for its 175th anniversary.