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Oregon Historic Sites Database

address:51186 Main St historic name:Hardman IOOF Lodge Hall
Hardman, Morrow County current/other names:Hardman IOOF Hall; Lone Balm Lodge #82; Hardman Community Center
assoc addresses:Hwy 207
block/lot/tax lot: / 3400
location descr: twnshp/rng/sect/qtr sect:4S2 5E 34 SE
resource type:Building height (stories):2.0 total elig resources:3 total inelig resources:0
elig evaluation: eligible/significant NR Status: Individually Listed
prim constr date:1902 second date:1946 date indiv listed:08/17/2012
primary orig use: Meeting Hall orig use comments:IOOF Hall
second orig use:
primary style: Italianate prim style comments:
secondary style: sec style comments:
primary siding: Horizontal Board siding comments:T1-11
secondary siding: Vertical Board
plan type: architect:
builder:Ben Cox and Tom D. Colliver
comments/notes:
11/15/2010 - Contributing shed and outhouse. HRR completed.
Not associated with any surveys or groupings.
NR date listed: 08/17/2012
ILS survey date:
RLS survey date: 11/15/2010
106 Project(s): None
Special Assess Project(s): None
Federal Tax Project(s): None
(Includes expanded description of the building/property, setting, significant landscape features, outbuildings and alterations)
The Hardman IOOF Lodge Hall is a two-story, wood-frame, false front building with horizontal wood and T 1-11 siding, a stone foundation, and corrugated metal roof. The building is located toward the front of its quarter-block lot and faces east onto US Highway 207 (Hardman’s historic main street). The building includes a one-story, shed roof addition on the south side, constructed in 1946. Today a metal container is located behind (west of) this addition, connected to the building with a temporary enclosed passageway. Also on the parcel, behind the hall, are a wood-frame woodshed and a wood privy, both clad in horizontal board with a shingle roof and wood foundation. The 1900 building retains its Italianate features and detailing, including ornate brackets supporting a deep cornice on the false front. Paired, double-hung windows with deep, raked crown molding on the building’s second level are also indicative of the Italianate style. The central, recessed entry to the first floor storefront is flanked large, six-light storefront windows and enframed by panels of narrow, diagonal wood within molded surrounds. The steeply-pitched gable projecting above the false front is an unusual subtype of the false front form, and is embellished with wood detailing. The front entry porch with its shed roof is not original to the building. The building interior retains its original lodge hall floor plan at the second level, with its original ceremonial raised platform on the east end, restricted entrance areas, and membership seating gallery along the north and south sides of the hall. The first floor, originally a general store and another meeting space, now functions as a community center. The one-story addition, built as a kitchen and dining room, still fulfills that function. The Hardman IOOF Lodge Hall, now known as the Hardman Community Center, retains much of its original integrity of design, materials, setting and craftsmanship, and is the rare remaining downtown building in Hardman still in use and fulfilling many of its historic functions.
(Chronological, descriptive history of the property from its construction through at least the historic period - preferably to the present)
The Hardman IOOF/Community Center (Lone Balm Lodge #82) building qualifies for listing on the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A, Social History because of its strong association with the early development of the small eastern Oregon town of Hardman and as a tangible reminder of the broad patterns of history that relied on the establishment of fraternal organizations to address and advance the cultural and social needs of new communities. The IOOF Lodge played a significant role in the civic and social development of the town at a time when these organizations were an integral part of a community’s life and identity. The building is also eligible under Criterion A, Recreation and Culture for its use as a dance hall and music center for the area within the Period of Significance. The 1900 building also qualifies for listing under Criterion C, Architecture as a good and somewhat unusual example of a wood-frame, false front building with Italianate details. A wood false front building was often the first commercial building to be constructed during the settlement of a town when wood was the only or most readily available and inexpensive building material, allowing citizens to quickly construct a building that resembled a commercial building in a larger, more established town. The interior retains most of the characteristic features of a lodge hall for a fraternal order, including the main meeting hall space, ante room, dais, and raised seating areas. In addition, it is the only active downtown building left standing in Hardman, Oregon and is therefore a rare, surviving example of a commercial building in Hardman. It was and is an important landmark for the people who live and visit this part of northeastern Oregon.
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Obituaries Newspapers State Archives Historic Photographs
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Local Library: University Library:
Historical Society: Other Respository:Morrow County Museum
Bibliography:
See National Register Nomination