A Library for North Seattle
How the local lodge of Odd Fellows stepped up to provide education and public gathering space to a growing community.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The Odd Fellows of North Seattle seem to be alive and at work for the public good. They have established and opened for general use a very nice library, and will make constant additions to it. Next winter they propose to inaugurate a course of popular lectures, which, in connection with the library, will add much to the pleasure and profit of that end of the city.
“The Odd Fellows of North Seattle seem to be alive and at work for the public good.”
This 1885 report on the Odd Fellows' civic contribution to North Seattle mirrors the ongoing struggle for 'third places'—non-commercial, community-led spaces like public libraries and community centers that remain vital for urban health in modern Seattle's rapidly densifying neighborhoods.
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