Vale IOOF Hall Listed in the National Register of Historic Places

Vale, Oregon "paved the way for the Oregon Trail"

“Visit the Sick, Relieve the Distressed, Bury the Dead, and Educate the Orphan” - MISSION: Independent Order of Odd Fellows

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - The Vale IOOF Hall in eastern Oregon is among Oregon’s latest entries in the National Register of Historic Places. The Vale IOOF Hall was constructed in 1908 and served as a center for community activities in the town of Vale for several decades.

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows Lodge #100 was founded in 1885 in Glennville, Oregon, and moved (including its meeting hall) to Vale in when that city became the seat of the newly-formed Malheur County in 1887.

The Oregon Legislature separated Malheur County from Baker County and Vale was designated as the temporary county seat. It became the official county seat after an election in 1888, defeating bids by Jordan valley and Ontario for the designation.

The IOOF Hall at 135 Main St S is one of the brick and stone structures that were springing up in the downtown area in the earliest part of the twentieth century.

The 1908 building was designed by regionally prolific architect Herbert W. Bond. An early city council had decreed by ordinance that buildings in the commercial district could only be of brick or stone. The progressive council wanted to protect the new town from fire.

The two-story, brick and stone building stands prominently at the primary intersection in town, directly across the street from the Drexel Hotel, also designed by Bond, built almost simultaneously with the IOOF Hall, and also listed in the National Register.

There were originally two stores on the ground floor with the stairs to the lodge hall going up the center. The IOOF Hall has housed such businesses as a grocery store, bakery, barber shop and was the BLM office (upstairs) during the first years of the Vale Range Rehabilitation project.

Like many IOOF organizations across the state, the Vale Lodge served the cultural and social needs of the small town of Vale, playing a significant role in the civic and social development of the town.

In addition to fulfilling the IOOF’s mission to “Visit the Sick, Relieve the Distressed, Bury the Dead, and Educate the Orphan,” it also served as a dance hall and meeting space for most fraternal organizations in the community, as well as the location of several Vale businesses. Oregon’s State Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation recommended the building’s nomination in their February 2016 meeting.

The Vale IOOF Hall becomes the fifth building in Vale to be listed in the National Register, which is maintained by the National Park Service under the authority of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.

Sources: Oregon Parks and Recreation Department; City of Vale