Maps

As a part of the research I am doing, I am in the process of creating a map showing locations for African American fraternal and benevolent lodges across the state.  I started it originally to keep track of the different lodges I was finding.  Zeemaps is a free service that allows you to build a map.  You can add as much or as little information to the pinpoints as you wish. I generally just add the name of the lodge, approximate location, and the source of my information.  For a handful of sites, I have uploaded a picture as well. I am way behind on the photo upload.

For many, many of the lodges (far more than I wish), I only have the name of the town in which the lodge was located.  That is certainly true for the GUOOF lodges, as I came across a history of the organization which listed every single lodge in the United States up through 1902.  The book is called The Official History and Manual of the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows and can be founded here on Google Books. Sources such as this have been incredibly helpful for documenting lodge numbers and town locations.

For some lodges, I was able to find an approximate location by using old Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps.  This maps occasionally label the African American lodges in a town.  Using the old map, would then look at modern maps and Google Earth to try to determine if the building still exists.  In some cases, such as the GUOOF lodge in Pulaski, I was fortunate to find the building.  Others are a matter of guesswork.  Others, such as Benevolent Hall in Nashville on South Cherry Street in 1888, no longer exist.

Cropped image from the 1888 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Nashville, Sheet 6b, Volume 1 showing the location of Benevolent Hall.

The  most frustrating part of doing this work is the way the landscape of Tennessee has changed over the last 100 years.  Urban renewal, TVA, and the demolition of older neighborhoods, particularly ethnic neighborhoods, have all contributed to the demolition of much of our historic fabric.  However, on the bright side, trying to find historic lodge buildings is a challenge, and I love nothing more than a good challenge.