IOOF Centennial Building

About this property

The I.O.O.F. Centennial Building is an historic building located at 150 East Chisholm Street in Alpena, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015. It dates back to 1876 and is “an excellent example of late Victorian commercial architecture.” The site was formerly occupied by the first Alpena County Courthouse, destroyed by a fire on December 12, 1870, and is a designated state historic site. Originally known as the Centennial Block or the Hitchcock Block, the building was constructed in 1876 for Samuel E. Hitchcock and his wife, Samantha Hitchcock, two of the first settlers and most prominent citizens of the city of Alpena. The building changed hands multiple times over the next decades, and is now owned by Mike and Kate Phillips. Following their recent acquisition, they launched their successful effort to have the structure included on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1901 it was sold to the local chapter of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F. Alpena Lodge No. 170) of which Samuel Hitchcock himself was a member. It adopted its designation of the I.O.O.F. Centennial Building from the society. The Odd Fellows has been headquartered in the building's third story since late 1876 and occupied it until 1969, when the fraternity was forced to sell its seat due to declining membership and finances. The building was occupied by several I.O.O.F. lodges: Alpena Lodge No. 170, Myrtle Lodge No. 432 (founded in 1893, and merged with the Alpena Lodge in 1926), Canton Alpena No. 31, Thunder Bay Encampment No. 87, and two Rebekah lodges, Primrose No. 364 and Beulah No. 91 (combined in 1936). The Odd Fellows remained there for 93 years. The building has also housed a variety of professionals, businesses and organizations over the course of its history, including book and music stores, the city library, the Red Ribbon Society (a forerunner of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union), and a restaurant. Elizabeth C. Nason's Centennial Book Store occupied the structure's first floor from 1881 to 1899. The building has been known by at least seven names: "Hitchcock block" or "Hitchcock's block"; "Centennial building" or "Centennial block;" "Odd Fellows Hall;" "I.O.O.F. Hall;" and "Odd Fellows' Temple." The I.O.O.F. Centennial Building stands at three floors, with a basement level, and occupies a triangular lot at the intersection of Chisholm Street, West Washington Avenue and First Avenue, within the city's central commercial district. Designed by architect William Mirre and built by Fred Ludwig, a local bricklayer, it is one of the oldest existing buildings in downtown Alpena, and a good example of Italianate architecture. It is in the form of a flatiron building. As with numerous other wedge-shaped buildings, the phrase "Flatiron" derives from its contour, and specifically its exterior resemblance to a cast iron clothes iron.

Location

Categories

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

More in Alpena County

Historic places, battles, and census history across Alpena County.

More historic places in Michigan

Browse all historic places in Michigan.

Conflict records

Explore 19,000+ military engagements across American history.

Michigan history

Colonial settlement, territorial period, and statehood narrative.