| Additional Information: | The Independent Order of Odd Fellows Baraboo Lodge No. 51 was chartered in 1871. Early meetings were held at the non-extant Taylor’s Hall located at the southeast corner of Broadway Street and 3rd Avenue. In 1878, J.J. Gattiker hired George Capener, a local carpenter and builder, to construct a double block at 138 and 142 3rd Street. The eastern half of the building, at 142 3rd Street, was immediately occupied by the Independent Order of the Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.) as their new meeting hall. By 1880, the Odd Fellows had as many as 125 members in regular attendance. The western half of the block, at 138 3rd Street, was leased by Fred Tobler for use as a saloon. Upon completion, J.J. Gattiker sold the building to Fred Keller, a Baraboo businessman, for $3,200.
The Baraboo Republic described the Odd Fellows lodge as follows: “The walls and ceilings are finished in the best of the plasterer’s art, white, brilliant, and hard, with turned center pieces in the ceiling for the chandeliers. The painting is unusually good. The doors are grained to imitate walnut with French panels, and the effect is very pleasing.” The two-story double block building is notable for its use of brick work as ornamentation and row of three arched windows with stone hoods and sills.
In 1884 the building was enlarged with a 40 by 22 foot addition in the rear, which housed a banquet hall. A new storefront was installed the following year by A.J. Carrow. The first floor at 142 3rd Street was occupied by a number of different stores from Davis and Jackson’s General Merchandise in 1885, to Frank Herfort’s Dry Goods at the turn of the century. In 1907, the Aronson Brothers leased the property to open a vaudeville and movie theater. Associated with the Gollmer Brother’s Circus, the Aronson’s opened the theater as the Bijou and appealed to family audiences. In 1909, the building was remodeled as the Gem Theater under new ownership. The Gem Theater business and building were leased by the new Al Ringling Theatre in 1923 and dissolved. By 1929 the Odd Fellows leased the remodeled property to the Richardson Paint Shop. The storefront remained a paint store through the 1970s.
The Grand Army of the Republic held meetings regularly on the second floor of 138 3rd Street from 1885. Tobler’s Saloon remained at 138 3rd Street from 1885 until 1900, when it exchanged hands and remained a saloon. In 1915 the address was occupied by Charles Hintz’s Tavern. The storefront remained a tavern to the present day. Despite alterations, the building is notable for its use as a fraternal group’s lodging, as an early movie theater, and its largely intact brick block façade. |
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| Bibliographic References: | The Baraboo Republic. August 28, 1878.
City of Baraboo Directory records on file with the Sauk County Historical Society.
Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, 1885, 1892, 1898, 1904, 1913, and 1927. On file at the Wisconsin Historical Society.
Ward, Joseph Wayne. Baraboo, 1850-2010, Vols. I-V: Chronology of the Growth of the Commercial & Retail Districts. Self-published, 2013.
Wolter, Paul. Notes collected for tours of Downtown Baraboo. Multiple dates. |
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