Erected by the International Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) Lodge #21.
The dedication ceremony was held 2 December 1904 with speeches and a band.
This is one of two remaining 2-story buildings in the old Cheney business district. The building is on the local and National Historic Register.
What was here before? A blacksmith shop occupied this corner but burned down sometime before 1888.
The building is 50 by 80 feet, constructed of local Cheney brick on a basalt foundation. The commercial space had centered entrance doors flanked by large display windows. Its first tenant was H.H. Schultz & Son [Robert] clothiers. In 1908 a restaurant occupied the ground floor.
The ground floor was leased as commercial space, while the Odd Fellows lodge occupied the second floor. There was a large room, called the Hall for meetings, dances, and other social events both for the lodge and the community. There were also smaller antechambers specific to the Odd Fellows functions, as well as other meeting rooms, closet and storage rooms, toilets, and a kitchen.
The lodge hall was splendid with fir wainscoting, a 13-foot-high ceiling with bronzed drop light fixtures fitted with glass globes. This was where the Odd Fellows and Rebekahs Morning Star Lodge No. 24 held their ceremonies. The hall was also used by the Modern Woodmen, Royal Neighbors, and Royal Order of Moose and Women of Mooseheart. A door facing F street at the rear of the building opened to a staircase leading up to the second-floor hall.
In 1910, Emory E. Garberg moved his hardware store from 407 1st into this larger space.
The Cheney Free Press noted the occasion in their August 5th paper:
“The room in the Odd Fellows Hall is 50 x 80 feet and affords ample room and conveniences for the immense stock of goods that Mr. Garberg keeps on hand. The store is divided by a center partition consisting of shelving. On the right of this partition are kept the heavy and shelf hardware and tinware, and on the left are kept the groceries, graniteware, and crockery. The rear of this part of the room is taken up by paints.”
You can still make out the painted Garberg’s sign on the F Street side of the building. In 1926, Normal school students using the hall for dances reported that the floor had become too “bouncy.” After inspection, the upper story was structurally improved.
C.A. Bottorff bought out Garberg’s April of 1926. He operated the hardware business until 1938. In the 1920s, responding to the growing number of automobiles, Bottorff installed a curbside gas pump in front of the store. There was one notable incident involving the pump reported in the 23 August 1935, Free Press:
“The gas pump in front of Bottorff’s hardware store apparently enjoyed a hard week-end, in fact it was quite obvious to numerous onlookers last Monday morning that the pump was suffering from a severe “hang-over.” It was listing at an angle of about 35 degrees, with the cement in which it was embedded being more or less cracked and torn up. However, the explanation was simple enough. When a truck which had been parked near the pump Sunday evening, started to drive away, the driver, a local man, did not notice that a part of the truck had caught on the pump, with the result that the gas dispenser was pulled into a slanting position before the trouble was noticed.”
Roy Hansen bought out Bottorff in 1938, glad to have Bill Bernard stay on as an employee. Bill became Roy’s business partner in 1942.
On 8 July 1941, Hansen’s Hardware and Safeway Grocery traded locations, with Hansen’s moving to 402 1st.
Safeway closed for 10 days in January 1947 for a major interior remodel into a “modern” grocery. The Free Press was quite impressed in their January 24th edition:
“A complete new refrigeration system has been installed, including a separate dairy cooler unit. New and larger meat display cases, more compact and convenient grocery serve-yourself counters and two new checking lanes are among the features, the latter making possible checking out customers at twice the former rate. The fixtures are all finished in a green enamel, the same color being used on tile wall covering, with upper walls in ivory. An intercommunication system has been installed, making it possible for checkers to summon additional merchandise from stock rooms quickly. A new oil floor furnace provides heat.”
Safeway moved to their new “supermarket” store at 120 G Street in 1962. At this point, the retail space was split into two, sometimes three or more businesses. When Elsie Ableman moved the Sears Outlet store into the building in 1970, a new door and windows were installed at the corner creating 317 1st. Street addresses for businesses have shifted several times as the building space was split or merged.
Other businesses you may recall in the building included Boots Insurance, Golden Que Rec Center, House of Travel, New York Life Insurance, Shorty Goodwin’s Barber Shop, Body Language Tattoo, Atta-Boy Upholstery, and Peace of Mind Coffee.
The historic building was almost torn down in 1989 after being deemed a structural hazard by the city. A Seattle developer submitted a plan, and though the plan was not followed through, the building was saved from the wrecking ball.
Former professional football player turned developer, Steve Emtman repaired, reinforced the structure, and remodeled both floors of this historic building in 2013. Upstairs are now apartments, with commercial space continuing at street level.
Jimmie John’s was the original tenant at the corner (2014-2019). In December 2023, City Smoke Shop opened in the old restaurant space. Monterey Pub N’ Grub opened October 2014 in the other half of the building. Monterey PNW restaurant morphed out of the former one. It closed in August 2023. Supa, a Japanese restaurant opened in late 2023.
Independent Order of Odd Fellows Building | Spokane Historical
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990, this building was erected in 1904.
Joan Mamanakis
