From the Deep

The other day, I casually mentioned that the Odd Fellows Hall was still standing, and I got a weird look. I revisited the Two Well-Known Gentlemen exhibit at the New Orleans Storyville Museum, and I started doubting if I was right. Why is there an uproar over the unused Odd Fellows and Masonic Hall/Eagle Saloon if they tore it down in 1914? Probably because there have been several Odd Fellows halls in our history. I tried to sort through the records.

What are Odd Fellows?

The Independent Order of the Odd Fellows are men (fellows) who have different jobs (odd jobs) than the traditional trade-based secret benevolent/mutual aid societies. It began in England in the 18th century and spread to the United States in 1819. The first mention I found in New Orleans was in 1837, which is also the year that The Picayune was established¹. The mention makes it pretty clear that the Odd Fellows were established in New Orleans before this point. In the Find A Grave entry for Henry Bier, I learned that the I. O. O. F. came to New Orleans in 1831².

They market themselves as primarily charitable, and they still exist in New Orleans. One of their purposes is to bury the dead. Odd Fellows Rest Cemetery was opened in 1849, one of the oldest in New Orleans³.

Old Odd Fellows Hall

(1831—1837) — The earliest home I could find for the Odd Fellows in New Orleans was at No. 50 Canal Street where they had a Lodge Room, mentioned in that first reference I found. No. 50 Canal Street was a boarding house called the Canal Streethouse with a barroom on the first floor, according to a 1844 ad for its sale by J. F. Barnes⁴.

(1837-1846) — A few months later, in August, an ad appears announcing the new lodge home of the Odd Fellows in New Orleans at the corner of Camp and Natchez⁵.

(1846-1851) — Between 1846 and 1851, the Odd Fellows occupied the upper story of a building at No. 13 Camp Street, which was between Common and Canal on the 1886 Sanborn insurance maps⁶.

(1852-1866) — In 1850, the Odd Fellows started a company to raise money to build their own building. The cornerstone was laid in 1850 at Lafayette and Camp streets⁷. It was dedicated in 1852⁸.

This hall was damaged during the aftermath of the Civil War in 1865 and then completely burned in 1866.⁹

(1867-1914) — On Camp between Lafayette and Poydras, 522 Camp Street sometimes 530 Camp Street¹⁰

The Odd Fellows initially wanted to rebuild in the same spot, but that spot became the Court House¹¹. The 1886 Sanborn map lists this space as the Criminal District Court. The building that is there now, the John Minor Wisdom U. S. Court of Appeals, was built between 1908-1915.

Eventually, they decided to build in a nearby building that was occupied by the Quartermaster’s Department after the Civil War. It was, at one point, the private residence of Benjamin Story. There were two Benjamins — Sidney’s uncle and Sidney’s brother. I think this must have been the brother’s home based on timing¹².

The Odd Fellows demolished their hall in 1914 because the cost for rat-proofing would exceed the cost of demolishing it.¹³ Several cases of the plague originated from the Odd Fellows Hall.¹⁴ The city had provided notices all across the city that rat-proofing was necessary to combat the rat plague. They were so serious that they got doctors involved. This is also, believe it or not, when we start getting municipal garbage pickup in New Orleans, but it wasn’t fully in effect until about 1920.

So that’s the Odd Fellows Hall where the Two Well-Known Gentlemen had their infamous balls. What about the one that is still standing?

Odd Fellows and Masonic Hall/Eagle Saloon (1850)

At 401 S. Rampart Street sits an 1850 building once known as the Odd Fellows and Masonic Hall and also the Eagle Saloon. It is currently owned by the New Orleans Music Hall of Fame, but it’s sat empty for some time¹⁵. There is no more important building standing for the history of Jazz in the United States, according to Offbeat Magazine¹⁶.

The third floor of this building served as the home of the Black Odd Fellows and Masonic society, which formed when two groups merged, in New Orleans¹⁷.

According to most sources, 401 S. Rampart (old address 122 S. Rampart) was built in 1850¹⁸. Joseph B. Hubbard, owner of Hubbard’s Furniture Palace, occupied the space until 1897¹⁹. Hubbard advertised that he was the oldest furniture store in New Orleans, since 1840. The oldest ad I found for Hubbard was 1876. In the 1871 New Orleans City Directory, which is the earliest I find a listing, Hubbard’s Furniture is at 401 S. Rampart. His residence is listed as Cincinnati, Ohio.

Hubbard sold the building in 1897, and he died in Cincinnati in 1899²⁰. The Masonic and Odd Fellows Hall Association leased the third floor and Jake Itzkovich had a loan/pawn shop on the first floor. Jake moved in 1907 and the first floor became the Eagle Saloon in 1908. Hubbard’s ads referred to a Sign of the Golden Eage. Itzkovich called his place the Eagle Loan Office, and the Saloon carried on the Eagle name.

In 1919, Maison Blanche leased the upper floors as warehouses. By 1920, Itzkovich and his loan store are back in the space. In 1925, the building underwent renovations into the look it still has²¹. In 1938, it’s the Dixie Beer Parlor²². In 1945, the Segrettos, Grace and Joseph, also listed 401 S. Rampart as their address. Grace ran the beer parlor and Joseph was a criminal sheriff deputy. In 1947, it was the Main Liquor Store. The New Orleans Music Hall of Fame purchased the property in 2002²³.

So What?

Somehow, without anyone really paying attention to it, this building has survived for at least 175 years. During that time, it served as a hub of history. Some of the most significant events in music history happened on the corner of S. Rampart and Perdido. For instance, on this corner, Louis Armstrong fired the gun on New Years’ Eve, the incident that sent him to the Colored Waif’s Home where he learned to play music, seemingly changing music history with that event.

But we can’t count on the luck that’s led the cement of this building to hold. Hurricane Ida knocked down the Karnofsky Tailor Shop, a few doors down from the Eagle Saloon, just a few years ago. The Karnofskys were among those who encouraged a young Louis. In the stories that he told later in life about delivering coal in Storyville as a child, he was accompanying Morris Karnofsky on that mission. I hope we’ve learned our lesson before the Eagle Saloon is gone too.

Demolished instead of Rat-Proofed

The New Orleans Item on September 11, 1915, page 1, details the rat-proofing efforts. They demolished many buildings in the crusade against the plague, 7,068 total including 1,477 dwellings or main buildings. They also installed 53,000 garbage cans in the campaign. They spent about $500,000 by June 30, 1915, which is more than $16,000,000 in 2025.

In addition to Odd Fellows Hall, they also demolished the St. Louis Hotel during the rat-proofing campaign.

Some New Orleanians Listed as Odd Fellows Publicly

G. W. Cable, President, 1843 (presumably the father of the famous author)
Sidney Story, Director, 1849 (uncle of the famous founder of Storyville)
Thomas F. Bragg, Grand Master 1860
Henry Bier, RWD Grand Master, 1850

Sources

1. “Odd Fellows Attention,” The Picayune, June 15, 1837, page 3. ↩︎
2. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/243732664/henry-bier ↩︎
3. Napoleon, Chelsey Richard. “Archives Month – Cemetery District/Canal Street Cemeteries Part 2,” October 29, 2021. https://clerkofcivildistrictcourtnotarialarchives.wordpress.com/2021/10/29/archives-month-cemetery-district-canal-street-cemeteries-part-2/ ↩︎
4. “For Sale,” The Daily Picayune, December 10, 1844, page 2. ↩︎
5. “Odd Fellows, Attention!” The Picayune, August 13, 1837, page 2. ↩︎
6. “Dedication of the Odd Fellows Hall,” The Picayune, January 29, 1846, page 2. ↩︎
7. “Odd Fellows’ Procession,” The Daily Picayune, April 30, 1850, page 2. ↩︎
8. “Buildings Erected,” The Daily Picayune, February 1, 1852, page 3. ↩︎
9. “Disastrous Fire: Odd Fellows Hall Destroyed — Loss $225,000-Insurance $95,000,” The Daily Picayune, July 6, 1866, page 2. ↩︎
10. Masonic and Odd Fellows Buildings in New Orleans, First Draft blog from the Historic New Orleans Collection, December 8, 2023. https://hnoc.org/publishing/first-draft/feeling-fraternal-freemason-and-odd-fellows-buildings-new-orleans ↩︎
11. The Times Picayune, December 10, 1867, page 1. ↩︎
12. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/40584863/benjamin_saxon-story ↩︎
13. “Odd Fellows get $1250 for Hall,” The New Orleans Item, September 6, 1914, page 56. ↩︎
14. “Another Victim of Plague Reported: Keeper of Odd Fellows’ Hall Stricken While at His Home — Tenth Infected Rat is Caught,” The New Orleans Item, July 26, 1914, page 60. ↩︎
15. McCusker, John. “Save the Eagle Saloon (From Whom?)” The Lens, May 21, 2016. https://thelensnola.org/2016/05/21/save-the-eagle-saloon-from-whom/ ↩︎
16. Ramsey, Jan. “Music in New Orleans is a lot More than Entertainment,” Offbeat Magazine, July 31, 2019. https://www.offbeat.com/music-in-new-orleans-is-a-lot-more-than-entertainment/ ↩︎
17. Fertel, Randy. “Eagle Saloon / Odd Fellows and Masonic Hall,” A Closer Walk by WWOZ, https://acloserwalknola.com/places/eagle-saloon ↩︎
18. Odd Fellows and Masonic Dance Hall and Eagle Saloon https://www.nps.gov/places/odd-fellows-and-masonic-dance-hall-eagle-saloon.htm ↩︎
19. Napoleon, Chelsey Richard. “Historic and Popular Jazz Locations,” June 13, 2022. https://clerkofcivildistrictcourtnotarialarchives.wordpress.com/2022/06/13/historic-and-popular-jazz-locations/\”>https://clerkofcivildistrictcourtnotarialarchives.wordpress.com/2022/06/13/historic-and-popular-jazz-locations/ ↩︎
20. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/211428926/joseph-b.-hubbar ↩︎
21. National Register of Historic Places nomination, 2002. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/eac34ff8-3446-4e7f-bb11-7189481254af  ↩︎
22. Landmark Designation Report, December 5, 2008. https://nola.gov/nola/media/HDLC/Designation%20Reports/401-3srampart-report_001.pdf ↩︎
23. Russell, Gordon. “Little Gem Saloon sold in heart of CBD; most of landmark New Orleans jazz block under single owner,”https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/ian_mcnulty/little-gem-saloon-sold-in-heart-of-cbd-most-of-landmark-new-orleans-jazz-block/article_d9dd9048-ae0d-11e9-867c-6b11139d171c.html ↩︎