Information Sheet

 

 

R         Independent Order of Odd Fellows.  Rolla Lodge No. 416 (Rolla, Mo.).

962                  Records, 1928-1958.

                                    Ten volumes and one folder.

 

THIS COLLECTION IS IN OFF-SITE STORAGE. AT LEAST TWO DAYS' ADVANCE NOTICE IS REQUIRED FOR ITS USE BY RESEARCHERS.

 

 

These are records of the Odd Fellows Lodge at Edgar Springs, later (1936) at Rolla, in Phelps County, Missouri.  Included are minute books, membership records, roll of officers, ab­stracts of semi-annual reports to the Grand Lodge of Missouri, a visitors register, and a letter (30 Janu­ary 1958) concerning consolidation with the lodge at St. James, Missouri.  Until 1948 the chap­ter was known as Spring Creek Lodge No. 416, after which it became Rolla Lodge No. 416.

 

Minutes of meetings of the lodge begin on 2 March 1929 and continue through a final entry on 2 May 1958, after which the chapter merged with the lodge at St. James.  Highlights include the move from Edgar Springs to the Pythian Castle in Rolla in 1936, the sale of the Edgar Springs lodge building to John Widener in September 1943, establishment of the Triple Link Real Estate Com­pany in 1945 to erect a new lodge hall and cancellation of the project in 1946, the change of name of the lodge from Spring Creek to Rolla in 1947, the erection of a neon sign in 1949, and the unanimous vote on 7 February 1958 to consolidate with the Odd Fellows lodge at St. James.

 

Membership account books document the initiation, dues, advanced degrees and ranks, and status of each member of the lodge.  Some personal information such as age, residence, occupation, and date of death is included.  The roll of officers charts the attendance of officers at meetings of the lodge.  Among the Spring Creek members were J. G. Case, Donald Castleman, Dr. R. B. Cowan, David E. Cowan, W. C. Dunham, Vernon and Wayne Edmondson, Nathan Henson, Earl Hudgens, Cecil King, Shearl Lorts, James Lanning, John Mace, R. S. Null, Albert and Lynn Paulsell, Lloyd Ramsey, Walter Snelson, Rev. M. E. Sooter, W. B. Stoltz, J. B. Stafford, Melvin, Mila, and Z. E. Watts, and Frank and John Widener.

 

Semi-Annual Reports to the Grand Lodge, 1929-1958, contain statistics on membership, with­drawals, receipts, disbursements, assets, and past, present, and proposed officers of the lodge.  Dur­ing the period covered by the reports, membership dropped to its lowest number (7 contribut­ing members) in 1936, but climbed to its greatest number (98 members) by 1946.  Forty-seven contrib­uting members were counted on the last report in January 1958, but when Rolla Lodge voted in May 1958 to consolidate with the lodge in St. James, only seven members were in atten­dance.

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