I.O.O.F. Hall

201-205 West Fifth Avenue

The Canal City Lodge No. 352 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.) had considered building their own lodge building for years.

In 1906, the opportunity to do so came with the plans to establish a new post office designed to meet the requirements of the U.S. Postal Service and to reserve its second floor for the new lodge.

By January 1907, postmaster C.M. Scott received notice that the U.S. Postal Service had signed the lease for the new post office, to be built at 201 W. Fifth Ave. Work on the building progressed rapidly, even though George Hopper’s crew also was working on the new Carnegie Library not far to the west on Fifth Avenue.

The cornerstone was set on June 19, 1907, containing a metal box with papers from the I.O.O.F. Lodge.

On September 30, 1907, the new Canal City Lodge No. 352 I.O.O.F. was dedicated in an elaborate ceremony, with many Odd Fellows leaders from all across the state of Kansas in attendance.

By 1915, a new, larger post office building was built at the northwest corner of East Fifth Avenue and A Street.

Meanwhile, the I.O.O.F. building continued to be used as an Odd Fellows meeting place for the Canal City Lodge and its female branch, the Rebekah Lodge, until at least the mid-1960s.

In 1946, Aubrey Foster and Ernest Casey opened a furniture store in an adjacent building to the west (205 W. Fifth Ave.) that was named The Ark Furniture.

After Casey’s death in 1960, the name changed to Foster’s Ark Furniture, and eventually Foster’s Furniture. The store grew and was expanded to include the I.O.O.F. building.

The last chapter of the I.O.O.F. building began in 1995, when Cowley County Community College purchased the building. The first floor eventually was remodeled to become the Ben Cleveland Wellness Center, which continues to operate there today.

Much of the original appearance of this 1907 building has been maintained, including its late 19th and 20th century Classical Revival and Commercial Style.

The old I.O.O.F. entrance can still be seen on the northwest corner.