Look for a stately, beige-brick building with big upper windows and bright red awnings right across the front, peeking out just behind the leafy branches.
Standing here in front of the Odd Fellows Temple, it’s easy to picture a grand old ball roaring to life inside, with folks dressed to the nines, laughter bubbling up as music drifted through those lofty windows. Built by the mysterious-sounding Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the temple was part secret society clubhouse, part social hotspot, and even had its own ballroom-imagine the swish of dresses and the squeak of polished shoes on a wooden floor. From 1913 to 1923, Saskatoon's very first public library set up shop here, so the place once buzzed with the turning of pages and the shushing of librarians. In 1959, the torch passed to the Saskatoon Labour Council, so the building kept busy hosting passionate debates and loud union meetings. The city thought it so important, it became an official heritage property in 1983. With each layer of history, the Odd Fellows Temple has been a place for books, for dancing, and for people fighting for change-so who says you can't squeeze a whole soap opera into a block of bricks?
