About Plano Odd Fellows

Established in 1870 ...

Plano’s original Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) was first established in the late 1800s. For over 100 years, the Odd Fellows served Plano’s homeless and hungry, but the organization demised in 1982 from lack of membership.
For 30 years, they had no charter, until this year (2018) when a group of Plano men reestablished the IOOF for a new generation of Odd Fellows looking to serve the community. Charlie Stephenson, Noble Grand of Plano’s IOOF Lodge 114, was instrumental in spearheading the Odd Fellows resurgence in the community and rekindling its history.

“I grew up in Plano and I heard stories from my family about the Odd Fellows, and I was always interested in the organization,” Stephenson said. “We just really like the fact that it has deep-rooted history in the area, and we thought Plano would benefit from the organization being brought back.”
The Odd Fellows Lodge was established in 1870, and it was founded on four principles: Visit the sick, relieve the distressed, bury the dead and educate the orphans. During his research, Stephenson found Odd Fellows worked with the First National Bank in Plano and also helped establish the Plano Mutual Cemetery with the Freemasons in Plano and Woodmen of the World, which no longer exists.

“It’s back before you had insurance companies, so you were trying to help your fellow man,” Stephenson said. “It’s the whole reason the organization’s called ‘odd fellowship’ because, at the time, it was really strange that these people were giving back so much to the community.”

Much like the Plano Masonic Lodge, the Odd Fellows share a history of charity and service to the community, and several original Odd Fellows were also Masons.

“Most of the members at that time were older, and people just weren’t joining organizations at that time – young people that is. It just kind of died off,” he said. But today, Stephenson said he’s seeing a resurgence of young people looking to join community organizations. What was once considered antiquated or “your grandfather’s organization” is rapidly becoming popular to millennial's looking to give back to their communities, he said.

Saturday (May 19th 2018), twelve new members were sworn into Lodge 114, and in its first year back, they’re hoping to make a splash. Residents can see the Odd Fellows in the July 4 parade, at a local food pantry or working with Plano’s Orphan Outreach. They also have plans to clean up and maintain the Plano Mutual Cemetery, which the original Odd Fellows helped establish.

​“We’re looking at a bunch of different options,” he said. “We just want to get involved. We just want to help the community any way we can. I want us to bring back the lodge in the community and try to do good there.”
Nationally, Odd Fellows annually raise over $700 million in relief projects, support the homeless, the poor and support orphans through legacy projects and national programs.

-Charlie Stephenson