Lower Merion Historical Society

The Lower Merion Historical Society

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Independent Order of Odd Fellows

Lodge 210
(Merion Hall Cemetery Association)
320 Righters Mill Road
Gladwyne, PA 19035

The Odd Fellows Hall in Gladwyne, circa 2002 The Blackwood family monument four 19th-century stones, Gladwyne Methodist church in the background view of the grave stones in the cemetery
Top left: the Gladwyne I.O.O.F. Hall prior to 2015 conversion to private housing.

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows is an ethical organization. The members have a bounding with an ethical lifestyle, which has its base written in the Statement of Principles.The elements of the device “Friendship, Love and Truth” are unbroken linked together, and symbolized in the logo by three unbroken, chained links. The I.O.O.F. is a worldwide organization based in the U.S.A. At the top of its hierarchy is the Sovereign Grandlodge. Under the Sovereign Grandlodge are many Grandlodges with their own work area. From the beginning of the Order, the Commands of Odd Fellowship are: Visit the sick, Relieve the distressed, Bury the dead, and Educate the orphan.

Dating back to 1885, over 1,300 graves of early and current families of Merion Square (now Gladwyne) are buried behind the I.O.O.F. Hall, located next to the Gladwyne United Methodist Church’s cemetery.