National Register of Historic Places
I.O.O.F. (International Order of Odd Fellows) Valley Junction Lodge Hall No. 604
West Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa
The record
- Listed
- November 9, 2017
- Type
- Building
- Address
- 216-218 5th St., West Des Moines
- County
- Polk
- State
- Iowa
- Contributing resources
- 1 building
- Coordinates
- 41.57201, -93.70922
- Reference number
- 100001793
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesIowa State University Geographic Information Systems Support and Research Facility and data providersDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesUSGS Historical Topographic Map Collection
The story
Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com
The I.O.O.F. (International Order of Odd Fellows) Valley Junction Lodge Hall No. 604 is a building at 216-218 5th St. in West Des Moines, Polk County, built in 1897 in the Commercial style. C.S. Yeaton and A.S. Burnette built and owned it; Charles C. Cross was its architect.
Why it's listed
It was listed in the National Register in 2017 under Criterion A, with local significance in social history. The nomination gives its period of significance as 1897 to 1966, reflecting the building's 1897 construction.
Physical character
The two-story storefront block has brown brick walls on a brick foundation, with three brick piers, flat segmental arches, transom openings, recessed entrance doors and display windows, a fanlight and a name stone bearing IOOF in bas relief. Inside, the lodge rooms keep their wainscot and picture rail, and a steel beam is trimmed with decorative rosettes. A narrow north staircase was added around 1923, and a 1946 fire removed the original third story.
Historical context
The lodge was founded in 1894 and bought the building in 1907. A Masonic lodge met there from 1904, gained staircase use in 1925, and got a formal 1974 lease with Gnemeth Lodge No. 577. The I.O.O.F. lodge disbanded in 2010.