We often are asked who were the Odd Fellows? and why did they own a hall?
Our Floyd Norgaard Cultural Center was built in 1902 as a fraternal hall of local Stanwood businessmen known as the Stanwood Fraternal Association. They quickly sold the building to Anton Anderson who eventually sold the hall to the newly formed Stanwood Odd Fellows #249 in 1909. They used it for community music, meetings, events, performances and other events until the 1930s when it was sold to be a storage building for the local Bryant Hardware. In 2000, the Stanwood Area Historical Society purchased and named it after our major donor, Floyd Norgaard, a local resident who wanted to see it saved.
Scroll down to check out a random list of Odd Fellows Halls throughout the country and some contemporary organizations websites to learn more about their history and how widespread they once were. Note the amazing variety! Many are on the Historic Register, local and National.
Please also search on your own for your own home town, many of the buildings exist throughout the country.
