Grand United Order of Odd Fellows – Washington Lodge #1513
New Castle, Henry County, Kentucky
Marker Inscription
Grand United Order of Odd Fellows - Washington Lodge #1513. GRAND UNITED ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS The Grand United Order of Odd Fellows (GUOOF) was formed in 1843; virtually all other fraternal organizations of the era were whites-only. The GUOOF provided vital support to its members and the local black community following the Civil War. Its work continues to the present. WASHINGTON LODGE #1513 Former slaves founded Washington Lodge #1513 in 1872, seven years after the end of the Civil War. The Lodge has owned this building since 1886; it has one of the few remaining nineteenth- century facades in New Castle. This lodge is the only active GUOOF lodge in Kentucky and is one of the oldest African American fraternal organizations in the state. Dedicated August 17, 2017.
Erected by Kentucky Historical Society
The Story
The Grand United Order of Odd Fellows formed in 1843, when nearly every other fraternal order barred Black members, and after the Civil War it offered vital mutual support to African American communities. In New Castle, former slaves founded Washington Lodge #1513 in 1872, just seven years after emancipation, and the lodge has owned this building—one of the few surviving 19th-century facades in town—since 1886. It remains the only active GUOOF lodge in Kentucky and among the oldest Black fraternal organizations in the state.
Why it matters
The lodge stands as a monument to how freedpeople built their own institutions of self-help and solidarity in the face of exclusion after the Civil War.
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