Shelbina was laid out on the wild and open prairie in a wilderness of wild grass about 1857, and the railroad from Hannibal made its appearance soon after.  Then small building began to spring up first north and then south of where the depot was located.

Three years after quite a thriving village appeared, and as Odd Fellowship keeps pace with the advancing step of civilization, a lodge was asked for.  The petition sent to the grand officers was signed by Oscar F. Brown, W.W. Weatherby, Wm. J. Veal, C. W. Sprinkle and Louis Brandt, and was accompanied by the following letter:

Shelbyville, April 23d, 1860:  Isaac M. Veitch, Esq.

Dear Sir and Bro.:  Herewith please find petition for charter for lodge at Shelbina.  And in answer to your inquiries say that the petitioners all reside at Shelbina, the population is about 300; it is eight miles from this place which is the nearest lodge, they have a good place to meet in.  I do not think it will interfere with any other lodge.  There are three or four other brothers holding cards that want to unite with them and the brethren tell me there are four or five outsiders that want to come in, so I think they will have fifteen or twenty the first year.  Yours fraternally, E. L. Holliday, D.D.G.M.

Just how many members the lodge secured in those early years we have no way of finding out, as the war came on in twelve months and nearly all civil institutions were suspended.  The name was Shelbina Lodge No. 142 I.O.O.F., which four initials stand for Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

The bloody strife closed in the spring of 1865, and immediately steps were taken to revive the lodge along with other institutions tending to civilize and humanize the people and make them forget the prejudice and hatred engendered by four years of war.

So on the 19th day of May, 1865, Morris Goodman, Frederick Schabel, David Morgan, Oscar Brown and W. W. Weatherby, who were members when the first charter of the lodge was surrendered, asked to have the charter restored, and this was accordingly done.  Accompanying the petition for restoration was the following letter:

Shelbina, Mo., May 29, 1865:  Mr. Charles C. Archer, R.W. Grand Secretary I.O.O.F., St. Louis

Dear Sir and Bro.: I am today in receipt of your most valued favor with enclosd blank making enquiry how many members would be in this place to join our lodge so soon as organized, and also what prospect for its maintainment.

In reply to the above I am happy to inform you that we shall have from seven to nine members at the beginning and good prospect for an increase. We shall try so much as in our power to keep it in a good working condition. Enclosed please find petition and trust to be satisfactory. I am, fraternally yours, Morris Goodman

It will be noticed that the letter first printed was addressed to Isaac M. Veitch. He was at that time, 1860, we believe, grand master of this jurisdiction.  In 1863 or '64 he was chosen Grand Sire of the whole order, and as such, soon as cannon had ceased to scatter death and destruction, he issued his proclamation asking the men who had been representatives to the Grand Lodge of the United States (now the Sovereign Grand Lodge) from the Southern states to meet with their brethren of the North in the historic city of Baltimore. They came and found the brotherhood ready to welcome them back. The chairs of those who had fallen in the bloody strife were draped in black. There old ties were again cemented, old memories revived, the war spirit forgotten, and there, while tears flowed from the eyes of once stern warriors, brother grasped the hand of brother and renewed the pledge of an undying friendship.

This was the olive branch held out to those of the Southland; the first practical effort toward restoring fraternal relations between the people of the two sections. And Isaac M. Veitch was a Missourian of whom every Odd Fellow and many other people are justly proud.

From the reorganization of Shelbina lodge in the spring of 1865 up to the present time it has been recognized as one of the important instituti8ons of this city. It grew gradually unt8il in a few years it numbered sixty members. Like all institutions of the kind it has had its periods of prosperity and activity and others when it was more dormant; but all the time it has been more or less a power for good, helping its own members and their families in many ways and aiding as occasion required outsiders.

During the last twenty-nine years this lodge has paid out for helpful purposes the sum of $4,694.41, of which sum $2,268 has been paid out for the relief of afflicted brothers, $1,237.35 to assist widows, $511.11 to help educate orphans, $413 to bury the dead, and $264.95 for special relief.

These are mere money contributions in the way of help to those in need; and these sums are as nothing compared to the assistance rendered in the way of attention to the sick, brotherly advice, admonition and encouragement, the friendly greeting and warm hand grasp, the strength to battle on imparted at weekly gatherings in the lodge room.

About August 1874, all the records and all the property, save a little money loaned out, belonging to this lodge was consumed in a fire that swept the west side of Center Street from the alley in the middle of block 23 to where the operat house now stands.  The lodge had been meeting over a dry goods store where Smith & Bowling now do business.

The lodge immediately procured a new outfit and rented Concert hall over what is now Dye's Drug Store. From there a move was made to the hall over the room now occupied by Nolin as a store. Afterward the lodge built its present handsome hall o nthe west side of Center Street in block 30. A few years ago the lodge bought a 5-acre lot and laid out Odd Fellows Cemetery.

It will be seen by the list of names that follows this article that the members now number 125, and the order is growing here as elsewhere. The influence of its teaching and practices are felt for the betterment of humanity in Shelbina as well as in most other towns and cities.

There is a Rebekah lodge which meets twice a month in the same hall, and they number 42 members. This branch of the order is growing and accomplishing great good.

NAMES OF MEMBERS: