GLACE BAY, N.S. — Kent and Marion Atkinson have many fond memories of meetings held at the Glace Bay building that was destroyed by fire on Jan. 18.
Kent, 79, was a member of the Aberdeen Lodge Independent Order of Odd-Fellows No. 68 who owned the building (located at the corner of Commercial and Catherine streets) until 2014, when they sold it to Warren Burgess for $30,000.
The Odd-Fellows is a service club. Like the Freemasons, the Odd-Fellows are dedicated to helping people in need and the Glace Bay division was no different, often holding held fundraisers for food banks.
"We did a lot of food drives," said Kent, sitting in the living room of his Glace Bay home. "One of our members took it upon himself to do an egg drive every year."
The Odd-Fellows were formed in the "old country" by men who weren't allowed to join the Freemasons. In 1908, the Glace Bay Odd-Fellows officially formed and purchased the property at the corner of Commercial and Catherine streets.
A three-storey building was erected on the site. One floor was the Odd-Fellows lodge where they would hold meetings and events. The Daughters of Rebekah, an all-women service group that Kent's wife Marion is a member of, also met at the Odd-Fellows lodge. Businesses rented offices on the other floors including Brodie's Printing and the Canadian National Express Company.
In 1937, a fire destroyed most of the building after the blaze was spotted by nightwatchman D.K. McDonald and police officer Thomas McIntyre, while they were doing their rounds at 2:30 a.m.
Rebuilding two storeys instead of three, the Odd-Fellows operated out of the building and rented to businesses for the next 77 years, until declining membership became a problem.
When the group decided to sell in 2014, Kent said he was the youngest of the five remaining members and they were all tired from trying to be property managers as well as doing charitable work.
For two years they held meetings at St. Paul's Church, where the Daughters of Rebekah now hold meetings, until they finally closed the Glace Bay branch on March 1, 2016.
At one point there were Odd-Fellow branches in many parts of Cape Breton including North Sydney, Donkin and Port Hawkesbury. Now there are none, as the Glace Bay branch was the last remaining.
After hearing about the fire that destroyed the former Odd-Fellows lodge, Kent said he was flooded by memories.
"All the good times we had there. That was my initial reaction — to think back to all the good times and all the people who became brothers," he said.
"And now it's gone. And now, most of the brothers are gone too."
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