Circa 1910 postcard showing the Odd Fellows Sign in Cleveland, Tennessee

Circa 1910 postcard of a crowded Ocoee Street, looking south to the tower of the old Bradley County Courthouse and the Ocoee Hotel in the distance.  The three link Odd Fellows sign is prominently featured in this image.  At this time, the lodge rented the upstairs of the Gwin Furniture Store.  In 1915 the lodge relocated to Church Street and remained there for the next 80 years.  Ocoee Lodge No. 97 was chartered in 1856.  The area out of which Bradley County was created was known as the Ocoee District.  Several pre-Civil War enterprises bore the name Ocoee.  These included a local newspaper, the first bank in Cleveland, the Ocoee Hotel, the main street of Cleveland as shown above and of course our own Odd Fellows Lodge.  Today the lodge is located one block west and three blocks south at 173 Broad Street, S.W.