UB Block, Odd Fellows Hall, I.O.O.F, United Brethren buildings

The redevelopment of the former Odd Fellows Hall, I.O.O.F Trust Building and the United Brethren (UB) Building, located along Franklin Street, was completed in 2020. The buildings now known as the “UB Block” are part of the Huntington Courthouse Square Historical District, location number 87.

The Odd Fellows Hall was built in 1889 and the I.O.O.F and Trust and United Brethren buildings in 1915. The decline of the buildings began in the 1980s, and they were condemned in 2013. Efforts by Huntington Alert, the Indiana Landmarks Commission and private and public funds kept them from demolition.

The International Order of Odd Fellows began in 1819 in the United States. The Order focused on philanthropy, charity and the Golden Rule. The Odd Fellows purchased the former old Methodist Church building, in this location, in November of 1888. R.P. Daggett & Co., Indianapolis architects, worked on the building and in September 1889 the brick work was accomplished. The I.O.O.F Hall was finished next door in 1915. The middle of the building’s arch shows the I.O.O.F Trust in the middle as the property rent income supported the I.O.O.F Cemetery, which later became the Mt. Hope Cemetery. The largest original tenant of the building was the United Telephone Company until the early 1960s.

The United Brethren Publishing Company began in 1837. Huntington operations began in 1897, originally located at Riverside Drive and South Jefferson Street. The publishing house then moved to Franklin and Warren Streets, 1917 to 1957. In 1957 the UB publisher moved to the Franklin Street location and purchased the other two buildings on the block to expand operations. Denominational periodicals, hymnals, disciplines, reports and books were published in the UB buildings. The United Brethren moved their offices from the buildings in the 1970s, relocating them to Huntington University (then College). The publishing business remained until 1981.

The company then sold the buildings, and the upper level became apartments, the lower level, Animal Crackers pet shop and the Army/Marine recruiting offices. These remained until the condemning of the building. The City of Huntington began demolition plans.

Huntington Alert and Indiana Landmarks then began efforts to save the buildings. In 2014 the Redevelopment Commission took possession due to back taxes. The buildings then became listed on the Indiana Landmarks 10 Most Endangered Buildings list in 2015. AP Development LLC, an Indianapolis-based real estate development company, began the redevelopment in 2016. MartinRiley, an architecture and engineering firm in Fort Wayne, was used to apportion the space of the UB Block’s 48,000 square feet.

Work started in early 2018, and the buildings reopened in 2020. The first floor is comprised of the Huntington County Chamber of Commerce and the Huntington Arts & Entrepreneurial Center/Pathfinder Services. The upper floors include the Huntington University UB Launch co-working space; UB Lofts, 37 market-rate apartments and living quarters for artists in residence. Culinary arts are practiced in the commercial-grade kitchen on the lower level, which is also rented by food truck operators in need of a commissary kitchen for their business.