There was once a large two-story building in the empty space between the Oxford Social Cafe and Mystery Loves Company Bookstore. Built in 1904, it was the lodge for the Independent Order of Red Men, a fraternity that dates back to 1765. It is descended from the Sons of Liberty, a group who concealed their identities and worked “underground” to promote liberty and to defy the British King, prior to the Revolutionary War.
After the War of 1812 the name was changed to the Society of Red Men and later to the Improved Order of Red Men, though their members remained entirely white. They used the customs and terminology of Native Americans as a basic part of the fraternity. Using a Native American language allowed them to speak freely without fear of being overheard by others.
We’re not sure just when the Red Men stopped using the lodge, but in the ensuing years the building became a center for social activity in town. The first-floor auditorium seated over two hundred with a stage and balcony. Dressing rooms were beneath it in a partial cellar and lodge rooms were on the 2nd floor. Local theatrical productions were staged and on Saturday nights you could watch a film.
"The movie theater, between the Bank and where the beautician parlor is that was the Red Men’s Hall. Mr. Charlie Collison was a plumber and electrician, he run the movies up there. You could see a movie for ten cents. The blacks would sit upstairs. The pictures they was silent then, silent pictures. We’d go next door to Thompson’s to buy a bag of peanuts. He had crackerjack, too." Bobbie Banks
