Home > MO > Avilla >

I.O.O.F Hall & Commercial Building

Springfield St. (MO 96), Avilla, MO
Phone:

East < GO > West

When the two story IOOF Hall was built in 1885 they followed a fairly typical practice and put the meeting hall on the second floor and commercial space on the main floor. That allowed for some income to help cover the cost and ongoing expenses of the building.

A stairway to the second floor is on the east (right in this photo) side of the building, enclosed but outside the main building. One of the windows on the front of the second floor has been boarded up.

It's pretty hard to see, but up on the gable there is a plaque showing the I.O.O.F 3 Chain Links symbol. The links represent Friendship, Love and Truth.

The small stone building on the west (left in this photo) side dates to 1930 and is the commonly referred to as the Hwy. 96 Commercial building. It apparently was Old French's Grocery store. These two buildings share a common wall. The stone wall construction on the front of the smaller building continues around the corner to cover the west wall as well. The canopy on the front of the IOOF Hall used to extend the full width of both buildings, the phots show where it attached to the smaller building.

On the east side of the I.O.O.F Hall is a remnant of a wall and a large broken up concrete slab which seems to indicate that there was another adjacent building attached there.

Photo(s): 2016