Beacon Lodge Records (2010.13)

Administrative History

Beacon Lodge No. 38 was the Wickford, RI encampment of the international fraternal organization The Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In 1884, a coalition of fraternal organizations including the Beacon Lodge built a hall at 90 Phillips Street in Wickford which was known as Odd Fellows Hall. The fraternal groups held meetings and events in this hall until the early 1900s when the hall became the home of solely the Beacon Lodge. Other groups in town also used the hall for other purposes, such as the High School's graduation ceremonies. By the early 1950s, membership of the Beacon Lodge had dwindled to the point where the group disbanded and the remaining members joined the East Greenwich chapter of the I.O.O.F., the Harmony Lodge. When the Harmony Lodge moved out of its East Greenwich headquarters in 2010, the records the Beacon Lodge records they were holding were donated to the library.