by Lisa Robinson
Boulder Creek Lodge, No. 152, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF), was instituted in February 1900 by district deputy grand master Charles E. Taylor of Watsonville, and grand secretary Shaw of San Francisco, with a team of instituting officers made up of members of Watsonville and Soquel lodges. They were soon looking for a property on which to build a meeting place. On March 17, it was reported that they had secured the purchase of the lot opposite the Fireman’s Hall, on the North West corner of Forest and Main streets. The cost was just $400.
The property had been the home of the “Swamp House.” A “rookery” that Andrew Baldwin bought and demolished, so that construction an IOOF building could begin. The building was completed in August 1900 and dedicated on October 20.
Earlier that year it had been reported that the “Rebekah degree of Odd Fellowship would soon be organized in Boulder Creek.” The Rebekahs are an international secular service-oriented organization and a branch of the IOOF.
On February 25, 1901, over seventy members of the Santa Cruz lodge left on a train just after 5pm bound for Boulder Creek where they were to institute the new Boulder Creek lodge. About one mile north of Felton, the train suddenly halted. Just ten minutes earlier, a culvert had given way, the trestle destroyed, and the rail bed opened up for some 50 feet wide and 40 feet deep. The train was backed to Felton and Southern Pacific bridge carpenters and local men worked for six hours to fill the void and build a new culvert. The train arrived in Boulder Creek just after midnight, whereby the citizens of Boulder Creek escorted the guests to the IOOF hall with a drum corps. The banquet, which was planned to take place after the institution of the new lodge, preceded it, the food having been kept warm by a large fire. The new Idlewild Lodge No. 251 had a membership of seventy-one. Emma Dool was elected as the first noble grand and Cora Miller the first vice grand. This first meeting was adjourned at 5:30am.
The Sentinel reported: “Without fear of contradiction, it can be stated that there never was a lodge instituted at such and early hour, under such trying preliminaries or with a more enthusiastic band of workers and assistants. Frequently was the message sent through the night: “We are waiting for you seventy strong. Don’t be discouraged.” This event shows the indomitable spirit which pervades the Rebekah lodges if Santa Cruz Co.”
Since its beginning, the Idlewild Lodge has shared in the responsibility and expense of maintaining the IOOF building, such as providing funds for a fire escape in 1949 when the hall had been closed to meetings because of the lack of such. It has raised funds for IOOF programs to benefit children, such as for the home for orphans in Gilroy, which opened in 1897 and is now known as Rebekah Children’s Services; the elderly; the less fortunate; and until recently was long active within our community.
