Information Sheet

 

 

R            Independent Order of Odd Fellows.  Webb City Lodge No. 79 (Webb City,

502      Mo.).

                        Minute books, 1888-1961.

                                    Fifteen volumes.

 

MICROFILM

 

 

 

These are the minute books of the Odd Fellows Lodge at Webb City in Jasper County, Mis­souri.  The minutes begin with the organizational meeting on 9 August 1888 and continue through 31 January 1961.  Lodge business included the acceptance of new members, payments of sick and funeral benefits, work on the various degrees of the order, matters concerning the lodge hall, and consolidations of the Alba, Carterville, and Duenweg lodges with Webb City.

 

Eleven charter members organized the Webb City Odd Fellows Lodge on 9 August 1888. The lodge held weekly meetings for most of the period covered by the minutes.  Active mem­ber­ship averaged about ten members, but many more attended special events such as com­bined meet­ings with other Odd Fellows lodges in Jasper County.  Lodges existed at Carterville, Alba, and Duen­weg, but as membership in these lodges declined they were consolidated with Webb City in 1929, 1936, and 1958, respectively.

 

Routine lodge business recorded in the minute books includes the acceptance and initiation of new members, expulsions of members for conduct unbecoming Odd Fellows, work on the three degrees of the order, and payments of benefits to members.  There was also a consider­able amount of deliberation concerning the lodge hall.  Meetings were held first in the Knights of Pythias hall.  Later the lodge rented space from John J. Donohue, an arrangement that lasted until 1923, when the Odd Fellows purchased their own building.   Over the years, the lodge sub­leased or rented its hall to other Webb City organizations such as the Knights of Pythias, Wood­men of the World, the Daughters of Rebekah, the Royal Neighbors, the Ameri­can Legion, and the Lions Club.  After 1945 the lower rooms of the hall were leased to a fur­niture store and a cafe.

 

 

 

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