Category Archives: Historical Places

FAQ – Odd Fellows Halls

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.

Edmonds, WA

Tacoma, WA

Redmond, WA

Carnation, WA

Orcas Island, WA

Alexandria, Virginia

Casper Wyoming

Rosendale WI

Fulton County, Georgia

Santa Rosa, CA

Arroyo Grande, CA 

Fairbanks, AK

Rosedale ID

New Orleans Louisiana

Polo, Illinois

New York City, NY

Demise of the old Railroad depot

Painting from a recent gift to SAHS. 2023.07

The Stanwood railroad depot was built in the 1890s when the Great Northern Railroad was connected the Puget Sound with the midwestern section of the United States.

The painting on the right captures the details of the siding. The initials of the painter are not familiar but was  certainly done before 1973 when the depot was finally destroyed after the last passenger run in 1971 when Amtrak (National Railroad Passenger Corporation) took over the run. Amtrak regulations at that time did not allow service to any point outside of the United States.

Last train carrying passengers from Stanwood depot was April 30, 1971. Photo by Howard Hansen of the Stanwood News

The depot was demolished two years later in April 1973.  The Stanwood Station now provides passenger service  using Amtrak and connect with Vancouver B. C. and the Empire Builder from Everett.

Visit the Dave Eldridge Center (formerly called the Stanwood Camano museum) to see more photographs and maps of the community.