The daily gazette., 1880-05-27
Odd FeltOscsisip.
sEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION
OF DELAWARE LODGE LAST EVEN
ING

AT the opera last evening the
members of Delaware Lodge, No. l,
L. o. o. F. celebrated the semi-cen-
tennial anniversary of the formation
of said lodge.
a much more warmer evening
could hardly have been selected for
the occasion, but Notwithstanding
this fact majority of the audience
remained until the close of the exer-
cises.
The members of the Lodge num-
bering perhaps about seventy-five
were seated ON the stage in full rega-
liza, and presented a very pretty
sight. The exercises opened with
pra yer by the chaplain, which was
followed with an overture from Bel
lini by the orchestra.
Past Grand James P. Hayes was
next introduced, who gave a short
and condensed history Of the Lodge
from its formation TO the present
date. He proceeded to say that the
charter under which Delaware
Lodge was formed, was granted on
May 9th 1880 by Grand Master,
Thomas wilkins of the Grand Lodge
of Maryland. The charter was
granted to eight persons who were
installed on September 18th 1880 in
a building No. 40 High street, (now
Fourth street.) The accommoda-
tions were somewhat meagre, the
rooms being quite small. The
Lodge continued to meet at the
above place, until March 2lst 1882
when it secured the old academy, on
Market street, between Eighth and
Ninth streets near where the Maso-
mic Temple now stands.
On May IA, 1888, they secured ac-
commodations at No. 81 . Market
street, (now 309) where they con-
tinued to meet until December 9th,
1886, when they surrendered their
charter, and ceased to work, for
nealy five years. AT special meet
ing of the Grand Lodge of the State,
held on September Goth, 184l, an ap-
plication was made for renewal of
their charter, which application was
granted, and the Lodge resumed the
meetings at No. 81 Market street,
where it continued to meet until
April 3rd, l843, when the various
Lodges in the city rented room in
Temperance Hall, on Fourth street,
between Market and King streets,
and continued there until May Goth,
l049, when it met for the first time
in L. o. o. F. Hall, a building owned
almost entirely by the Odd Fellows
of this city, Delaware Lodge owning
l52 shares, which are worth about
$4,000.
The speaker at this point gave
short history of the Odd Fellows
Hall. The work of digging the ex-
cavation for the foundations was
commenced early in the spring OF
l848, and the corner stone was laid
on the Oath of June of the same
year. On May 2oth, 1919, the
building was dedicated with great
ceremonies, the occasion being a
holiday in the city.
Thousands Of people were on the
streets to watch the Odd Fellows as
they marched, in full regalia, into As
bury NJ. E. Church to hear the Grafton
delivered by the eloquent Ridgeley.
Juring the existence of Delaware
LodGe, 996 persons have been accepted
As members, aud 1t now has member
ship of l56. During the fifty years, the
Lodge received from all sources, $50,
SlU. 81; paid out for benefits, 20,325.77;
funeral expenses. $5,726.39; for the re-
lief OF widows and orphans, $2.536. 40;
donations, 81, ,4Y5.0S: incidentals, $751;
l27.42. Its assets, bonds, ETC., amount
70 $IU,599.76. Mr.. Hayes closed his ad
dress by paying high tribute to Odd
Fellowship.
At the close of his address, which was
very attentively listened to, choir un-
der the dictatorship OF ". j. Fisher,
sang "Dancing Der the Waves"
Hon. Schuyler ColfaX was pext intro
duced and spoke for over an hour and a
half He commenced his address by
thanking those present for the reception
they had given him after an absence OF
several years. "Much," he said, "had
been said of the origin of Odd Fellow
ship. Some writers believed that they
had traced it back to the time of the
Roman emperors in The seventeenth GEN.
Jury; others to the days of the Crusa-
ders, but most of the members OF the
members of the Order believed that il
had its origin during the present cenJu-
nv. 1t seems ut short time since five
men met in a dark room in Baltimore
on stormy April night, and there laid
the foundation of the Order 10 this
country,
Those who met there were not sena-
tors or great men; they were not rich
aud influential, but on the other hand
they we're men of humble means.
But no matter how humble they
were, they laid the foundation of an
order that has grown from five men to
thousands and its reliefs have amount
ed to millions. The speaker after
eulogizing the order and its benevo-
lent workings told his auditors how he
came TO ioin the order. He was sit
ting in his office at South Bend, Indi-
ana, when he picked up a paper and
read q short story of a young widow,
who at her husbands death found the
members of the Lodge to which her
husband had been member at her
side with aid and comforting words
The story so affected him, although he
had been opposed to secret societies
ali his life, that he determined to join
the order.
He sent in his application, was ad-
mitted, and now he thanked God, that
he was an Odd Fellow.
He had been member of the Order
for over n quarter of century, and