Odd Fellows Building

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) constructed a building at 521 1st Avenue North (the northeast corner of Broadway and 1st Avenue) to serve as a meeting hall.

The building was designed by the Orff and Joralemon architectural firm in the Renaissance Revival style. The building was constructed in 1893-1893 (after the devastating fire of 1893). The Odd Fellows met in a hall on the second floor and the first floor was rented to shop owners. The east end of the first floor was home to the Fargo Forum in its early years, and The Record a North Dakota periodical. On the west end of the building (at 101 Broadway) were shops, the earliest being John T. McCormick harness maker, followed by the Fargo Harness Company which occupied the corner shop. The Fargo Harness Company was established in 1897 with John Peterkin as proprietor. The shop just to the north in the building at 103 Broadway, was first occupied by James C. McKendry, feed and grain store. This was followed by the Singer Sewing Machine Co. and Emma Flaten's millinary.

The upstairs was also the home of Fargo's Commercial Club (sort of a forerunner to today's Chamber of Commerce). The Commercial Club was incorporated on August 14, 1902. The Club at a membership of 200 in 1906.

A third floor was added in 1915-1916 when Horace Donaldson took over the building and converted the upper floors to the Donaldson Hotel.

Sources:
"Fargo Odd Fellows decide to keep up with the procession and will commence to build this fall" Fargo Forum and Daily Republican (23 Aug. 1893): 4.
Fargo and Moorhead City Directory. Fargo, 1881-1927.
Souvenir of Fargo, North Dakota, 1906. Fargo, N.D. : Porte Printing Co., c1905.